Electric vehicle sales may not have been as strong as expected over the past few years, but the fact is that they have been picking up pace lately, in large part thanks to falling prices, along with federal and state incentives that include tax credits and rebates. In addition to this, there are now much more electric and hybrid models that consumers can choose from, which helps fuel demand further.
Electric vehicle sales may not have been as strong as expected over the past few years, but the fact is that they have been picking up pace lately, in large part thanks to falling prices, along with federal and state incentives that include tax credits and rebates. In addition to this, there are now much more electric and hybrid models that consumers can choose from, which helps fuel demand further. What’s more, plug-in cars are no longer the slow, boring vehicles they used to be, with various models that have similar performances to their gasoline-powered counterparts, and some luxury cars that can cater to the environmentally-conscious high-end consumers.
All these factors have led to a steady increase in plug-in vehicle sales over the past few months, resulting in record-breaking sales in May. According to the data collected by InsideEVs, sales in May set a single-month record in the US, with a total of 12,053 units sold, beating the previous record holder, August 2013, by about 800 units.
This is a 62% increase over the same month of last year, when 7,454 electric and hybrid vehicles were sold. There are three models that performed exceptionally well in May: the Nissan Leaf, with 3,177 vehicles sold; the Toyota Prius PHV, with 2,692 units sold; and the Ford Fusion Energi (1,342). These figures mark an all time high for all three manufacturers, when it comes to single-month sales for their best-selling plug-in vehicles. In addition to these models, the Tesla Model S and the Chevrolet Volt also passed the 1,000 units mark.
When it comes to cumulative 2014 year-to-date sales, the Leaf is at the top with a total of 10,389 units sold, followed by the Prius PHV (7,729), and the Volt (6,838).
January
February
March
April
May
Total
Nissan Leaf
1 252
1 425
2 507
2 088
3 177
10 389
Toyota Prius PHV
803
1 041
1 452
1 741
2 692
7 729
Chevrolet Volt
918
1 210
1 478
1 548
1 684
6 838
Tesla Model S
800
1 400
1 300
1 100
1 000
5 600
Ford Fusion Energi
533
779
899
743
1 342
4 296
Currently, there are 19 plug-in models that are available in the market, with more than 15 new models expected to be introduced in the next year or two. However, even though electric vehicles seem to be gaining some ground, they are still very far from becoming mainstream, which won’t happen before the proper charging infrastructure is in place, and before car makers manage to improve the range of plug-in vehicles considerably.