February Volt & Leaf Sales Up

Chevy Volt via Chevrolet

While there are now about a dozen plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) on the market in the U.S., the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf are still the clear leaders in sales. They are also sort of like the Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston of EVs — they’re celebrities in the EV world, and we read and write about every detail of their lives and development, and they’re looked to for guidance on how PEV sales are going in general. We again have monthly sales records for Brad and Jennifer… I mean, the Volt and Leaf.

The Volt’s sales in February continued to surpass those from a year ago — by a good margin. For example, in February 2013, 1,626 Volts were sold, about 59% more than the 1,023 Volts that were sold in February 2012.

Nissan Leaf via Nissan

653 Nissan Leafs were sold in February 2013 (very similar to the January figure of 650). In comparison, 478 Leafs were sold in February 2012. So, 2013 February sales are about 37% higher than last year’s. Nissan Leaf production is increasing at Nissan’s factory Smyrna, TN, so we can expect that number to climb as long as demand continues to climb (and why wouldn’t it).

With the price of the Leaf dropping from $35,200 MSRP to $28,800 MSRP this year, as well as performance improvements (i.e. longer range,  better coefficient of drag, improved regenerative brakes, and other improvements), sales of the Leaf are expected to pick up quite a bit. We’ll see.

For more on EV sales in general, also see:

• EVs Selling Well At This Stage Of Their Evolution
• EV Sales — Important Context Often Overlooked