Tesla has had enough success now, and the Tesla Model 3 has arguably been on the market long enough, that many people across the globe are familiar. In the US, there are likely few people remaining who haven’t at least heard of Tesla and the Model 3, so it comes as no surprise it’s the most “sought-after” EV.

An electric vehicle leasing company called GRIDSERVE pulled together Google search data from 2022 for over 300 electric cars in every US state. The study revealed that the Tesla Model 3 was the most popular, not only in the US, but in the UK and globally.

The Tesla Model 3 was the most popular EV in the US by sales volume until the Tesla Model Y came along. Much like Tesla CEO Elon Musk anticipated, the Model Y stole the best-seller title from the Model 3 in the US, and the Model Y is selling like crazy across the globe. However, that doesn’t mean more people are familiar with it and/or searching for it.

In many cases, it wouldn’t be uncommon for someone without a ton of knowledge about Tesla to mistake the Model Y for a Model 3. The two cars look very similar, especially if you don’t see them side by side, though neither looks anything like the Tesla Model S or Model X.

That said, according to GRIDSERVE, the Model 3 was the most popular EV in the world by search volume in 2022, with nearly 20,000,000 searches.

The Model 3 was also the top choice in 41 US states by search volume in 2022. In addition, it racked up nearly 6,000,000 searches in the UK alone.

Only nine US states’ Google search data didn’t favor the Model 3. A single state saw the Cadillac Lyriq as the most searched, two states had the most searches for the Rivian R1T, and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6 were the most searched in a total of three states each.

Looking at the future, GRIDSERVE attempted to calculate which EVs might fare well in 2023. The website points to the Volvo EX90 as a top search choice, followed by the Tesla Semi and BMW i7. Wait … where’s the Tesla Cybertruck?

What do you think? Is Google search data worth analyzing in cases like this? Leave us your thoughts in the comment section below.