Americans bought some 330,000 all-electric cars in the second quarter, a record, and an increase of 11% from a year ago. That result is a relief. EV sales only grew 3% in the first quarter from a year earlier, far slower than the 46% growth realized in 2023.

Slowing growth early in 2024 made everyone nervous. Tesla stock at its April low was down 44% in 2024. Part of the reason for its decline was weaker-than-expected first-quarter deliveries that dropped almost 9% from the year earlier.

Now Tesla stock is flat for the year, rallying some 20% after better-than-expected second-quarter deliveries. Tesla sold about 444,000 cars globally in the second quarter, down less than 5% from a year ago.

In the U.S., Tesla sold about 164,000. Its share was 49.7%. That’s below 50%, but investors didn’t care. The stock rose following the second quarter market share release from data provider Cox Automotive.

One reason for the reaction is that no one expects Tesla to be half the market forever. Another is that EV penetration needs to be much higher in the future for Tesla and other auto makers to sell enough battery-powered cars to justify stock market valuations and EV investments.

EV penetration of new car sales in the U.S. was roughly 8%. It’s been around 7% to 8% for the past six quarters.

There are signs, however, that Americans are warming up to EVs. More auto makers are selling significant numbers of EVs and there are more affordable options.

Nine auto makers sold more than 10,000 battery electric cars in the second quarter,

Volkswagen
,

BMW
,

General Motors
,

Ford
,

Hyundai
,

Kia
,

Rivian Automotive
,

Toyota
,

and of course, Tesla. That’s up from eight a year ago. Toyota, including Lexus sales, joined the group.

Several luxury auto makers struggled to sell EVs in the second quarter, such as

Polestar Automotive
,

Porsche
,

Volvo, and

Mercedes
.

All saw double-digit volume declines in the second quarter from a year ago. It’s another sign that the luxury end of the battery-electric vehicle market is saturated.

Kia made some of the biggest gains in the second quarter, with market share up almost 3 percentage points from last year. Ford, the number two maker of EVs in the U.S., picked up about 2 percentage points of market share. GM picked up a little more than 1 percentage point.

Kia’s number one model in the second quarter was the was the Kia EV6 which starts at about $43,000. Mercedes’ best selling EV model was its EQE SUV. That vehicle starts at closer to $75,000.

More affordable options being snapped up by U.S. buyers is a good sign. The right cars at the right price can sell, whether they are from Tesla or anyone else.

Tesla stock finished down about 1% this past week while the

S&P 500

gained about 1%. News that Tesla was delaying its August robotaxi event hit the stock hard. Shares fell 8.4% on Thursday. That event is about the future of self-driving cars. These days, investors care more about that than quarterly EV market share.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com