America has a little more than 100,000 electric vehicles currently on the road, but more are coming every month. May sales look to be between 6,500 to 7,000, according to Green Car Reports
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1084535_may-plug-in-electric-car-sales-nissan-leaf-passes-chevy-volt.
Given the May sales numbers, electric vehicles are now selling at a rate of approximately 80,000 cars per year. The next EV milestones will be an annual sales rate of 100,000 vehicles and 200,000 cars on the road. Both will happen in the next 15 months.
The road ahead for electric vehicles looks straight and open to the horizon.
Thank you John for the update!
ReplyDeleteI recommend another online source for sales stats: Inside EV's monthly report card. Their numbers indicate over 7000, possibly over 7500 for May (they don't have the Ford numbers updated yet, but the page gets updated regularly).
http://insideevs.com/may-2013-plug-in-electric-vehicle-sales-report-card-2/
I would still keep hope for 100k even in 2013! - The Chevy Spark EV is coming out this month, and if GM plays its cards right, then this low-cost, sporty (400ft-lb torque) beast might give the Spark brand some juice
- The Fiat 500e coming in July, with specs similar to the Spark and 2 great marketing gimmicks: affordable lease w/no mileage limit, and 12 days/year free car rental for longer trips.
- The Smartcar EV already came out mid-May. It is definitely the lowest-end (2-seater, shorter range) but *really* affordable, probably cheaper than any new gas car once you factor in the gas $$ savings.
So let's keep spreading the word and hoping 100k sales is crossed this year rather than the next!
...and the numbers are in: 7554 EVs and plug-ins in May (they assume 1,800 Tesla S, which sounds realistic). Sales have been at >7k for 3 months straight, since the release of the 2013 Leaf and the stabilization of Tesla S sales at the ~2k/month level - which they will likely maintain barring major production difficulties, since the waiting list is very long :)
ReplyDeleteOver these 3 months, EV/PHEV sales have averaged nearly 7600/month. If they keep this pace, we'll hit 85k this year. If the newcomers mentioned above increase further, and if Nissan manages to ramp up its Smyrna production line to the promised 100k/year volume (right now they are not quite keeping up with demand), then 90k and even 100k this year are quite possible.