ClaimsRodney Brooks

“If electric sales continue to grow at 68% per year then 2025 would hit 28% of new cars in the US being electric.”

Rodney Brooks, blog author 1 January 2023 Predictions Scorecard, 2023 January 01 (rodneybrooks.com) archived copy

Prediction Economics and markets

If US electric vehicle sales keep growing at 68% per year, electric cars would be 28% of new US car sales in 2025.

Resolved true The record shows it happened or was so.

Prediction: Statements about events outside the person's control, checked once they fell due: did they come true?

What would count as true or false

The claim is explicitly conditional. Step 1: find the actual year-on-year growth in US electric vehicle (EV) sales for 2023–2025, using the battery-electric measure the claim's base figure used (about 5.8% share in 2022). If growth averaged roughly 68% a year (55–80%), judge on the actual 2025 EV share of US new car sales: true if 25–31%, mostly true if 23–25% or 31–33%, mostly false if 18–23% or above 33%, false if below 18%. Step 2: if growth did not average roughly 68%, the condition failed and the claim is judged on its arithmetic. Take the 2022 base share and compound it at 68% a year for three years. True if the result is within ±2 points of 28%, mostly true if within ±4 points, false otherwise. In this second case, the actual 2025 share differing from 28% does not falsify the claim.

Set before the research began.

Evidence (4)

  1. E1 Despite Q4 Collapse, 2025 EV Sales Decline Only 2% Versus 2024; Policy Shifts, New Product Set Stage for Next Chapter - Cox Automotive Inc. Cox Automotive Inc. · 4 May 2026

    “total EV sales last year came in just shy of 2024’s 1.30 million. In fact, 2025 was the second-best year on record for EV sales in the U.S., and the EV share of total market sales was a strong 7.8%, down from 8.1% a year earlier”
  2. E2 Column: Robot taxis? Hyperloops? A top technologist wages war on tech's hype machine Los Angeles Times · 20 January 2023

    “The growth rate in EV sales became turbocharged in 2022 — increasing by 68% in the third quarter over the same quarter a year earlier. If that growth rate continued, then EVs would constitute 28% of new car sales in 2025.”
  3. E3 In a Down Market, EV Sales Soar to New Record - Cox Automotive Inc. Cox Automotive Inc. · 13 January 2023

    “sales volumes past 800,000 for the first time, according to Kelley Blue Book estimates, an increase of 65% versus 2021. EV share of the total market hit 5.8%, up from 3.2% in 2021.”
  4. E4 EV Model Availability and Sales | Argonne National Laboratory Argonne National Laboratory · 24 November 2025

    “Over 1.5 million EVs were sold in 2024, an 8% increase over last year.”

Reasoning

E3 puts US EV sales in 2022 just over 800,000, a 5.8% share. E1 reports 2025 EV sales about 2% lower than 2024's roughly 1.30 million, with a 7.8% share. So growth from 2023 to 2025 fell far short of 68% a year, and the claim's condition did not hold. Under step 2 of the criteria, the claim is judged on its arithmetic: 5.8% × 1.68³ ≈ 27.5%, which is within 2 points of the 28% the claim gives. E2 confirms that 28% was the projection made.

Cite this claim

Rodney Brooks, “If US electric vehicle sales keep growing at 68% per year, electric cars would be 28% of new US car sales in 2025.” (said 1 January 2023). Verdict: resolved true. Reliability API, claim c_02baf92fca64, method 0.1.0+c876030c, dataset release v1.1.2. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_02baf92fca64

This claim is in dataset release v1.1.2, with the same verdict.

Reply to this claim

For Rodney Brooks, or someone speaking for them: a correction or counter-evidence. Replies are read before anything is shown; an approved reply shows your name, role, date, statement and link. Your email address is never shown and is deleted 30 days after the decision (privacy).

More prediction claims by Rodney Brooks

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  2. Mostly false Prediction 1 January 2026
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  3. Resolved false Prediction 1 January 2024
    “Thereafter it is expected to fly with a crew once a year.”

    After its first crewed test flight in April 2024, Boeing's Starliner is expected to fly with a crew once a year.

  4. Mostly true Prediction 1 January 2023
    “I am concerned that Starship will not be ready for the proposed 2025 Lunar Landing of astronauts and that will really delay humankind’s return the to Moon.”

    Brooks said he was concerned that Starship would not be ready for the proposed 2025 crewed lunar landing, and that this would delay humankind's return to the Moon.

  5. Resolved true Prediction 9 July 2020
    “We will not have level 5 autonomous cars on our roads in 2020.”

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All of them

Verdicts are made automatically; how verdicts are made.