Nissan Leaf & Ford Continue Their Strong Year (July US Sales Update)

July was a momentous month for Mercedes and me. Mercedes saw the US birth of its first electric vehicle, the Mercedes B Class Electric, and my little girl was born. With this being a monthly electric vehicle sales update, there’s not much more to say about either one here. The Mercedes B Class Electric just saw 41 sales, but we have to wait for full sales months and potential ramping up of production to see if the car really goes anywhere (that is, if Mercedes really tries to sell it).

The big plug-in car props in July again go to Nissan, with GM and Ford getting in there a bit. Nissan led the pack yet again with 3,019 sales (62% growth over July 2013). Aside from January, when I estimated that Tesla had 15 more deliveries than the Nissan Leaf had sales, the Leaf has topped the charts every month this year. For the year to date, the Leaf has 13,667 sales, 40% more than the same period last year, and 50% (4,580 more sales) than the #2 Chevy Volt has had for the year to date.

Continuing on with the pattern for the year as a whole, the Volt was #2 in July with 2,020 sales (a 13% increase over last July), the Toyota Prius Plug-in took #3 with 1,371 sales (a 68% increase), and the Ford Fusion Energi took #4 with 1,226 sales (a 201% increase!). The Tesla Model S came in at #5, based on my estimate which is based off of the latest Tesla Model S production/sales report as well as Model S registration reports from Europe and an estimate for China. Unfortunately, with Tesla not providing region-specific sales numbers, even on a quarterly basis, I may have to drop the Model S from my reports in the coming months as Chinese deliveries ramp up… unless someone can pass along reliable monthly registration data for China.

No other plug-in car broke 1,000 sales in July, and the only one that came close was the Ford C-Max Energi (831). Like its Fusion sibling, the C-Max Energi did see a strong increase in sales, 92% more than July 2013.

Personally, I think the Leaf and Ford plug-in car sales trends are the best to look at to get a sense of growing electric car demand in the United States. Nissan is really working to sell its Leaf and has been ramping up production to meet demand. Ford, while it hasn’t gone and built a plug-in car from the ground up, is not trying to repress plug-in car sales from what I can tell. Mike Tinskey, Director of Vehicle Electrification & Infrastructure at Ford Motor Company, told me in December that Ford’s approach is to use a manufacturing system based on popular Ford gasoline models that allows them to easily increase production as demand grows. Demand has certainly been growing! Kudos to Ford for at least meeting demand and offering plug-in cars at a cost-competitive level.

On the whole, 100% electric vehicle sales were up 67% in July 2014 compared to July 2013 in the US, and 20% for the year to date; plug-in hybrid electric vehicle sales were up 64% in July 2014, and are up 58% for the year to date; and all plug-in vehicle sales were up 66% in July 2014, and are up 37% for the year to date.

EVObsession.com
Company/Model Jul 2014 Jul 2013 % Change YTD 2014 YTD 2013 % Change
BMW
BMW i3 363 0 1057 0
Daimler
Smart ED 298 58 413.79% 1187 171 594.15%
Fiat
Fiat 500e ? ? ? ?
Ford 2255 990 11930 5034
Ford C-Max Energi PHEV 831 433 91.92% 4234 2504 69.09%
Ford Focus Electric 198 150 32.00% 978 903 8.31%
Ford Fusion Energi PHEV 1226 407 201.23% 6718 1627 312.91%
GM 2336 1891 10219 10467
Cadillac ELR 188 0 465 0
Chevy Volt 2020 1788 12.98% 9087 10337 -12.09%
Chevy Spark EV 128 103 667 130
Honda 83 117 397 528
Honda Fit EV 42 63 -33.33% 213 332 -35.84%
Honda Accord PHEV 41 54 -24.07% 184 196 -6.12%
Mercedes
Mercedes B-Class Electric 41 0 41 0
Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi i 17 46 -63.04% 102 801 -87.27%
Nissan
Nissan Leaf 3019 1864 61.96% 13667 9766 39.94%
Porsche
Porsche Panamera S-E Hybrid 63 0 481 0
Tesla Motors
Tesla Model S (estimate) 1000 700 42.86% 7368 9050 -18.59%
Toyota 1439 926 9475 4879
Toyota Prius PHEV 1371 817 67.81% 8930 4432 101.49%
Toyota RAV4 EV 68 109 -37.61% 545 447 21.92%
Total 100% Electrics 5133 3093 65.96% 25784 21600 19.37%
Total PHEVs 5740 3499 64.05% 30099 19096 57.62%
TOTAL PLUG-IN SALES 10873 6592 64.94% 55883 40696 37.32%

One thought on “Nissan Leaf & Ford Continue Their Strong Year (July US Sales Update)

  1. Hey, Where are the wireless chargers we were promised? About ten years ago. I saw a working prototype at CES at that time, and thought “oh wow, that will make EV adoption much, much easier. It was a simple molded plastic “block” looking thing that rose up from the parking lot surface about 4″ high and 2′ square. Centered in the front half of the parking spot, the tires simply straddle it while pulling in, and any vehicle at all would clear it. Vandalism proof, auto-sensing, inductance charging of EV’s, and an ICE car could park there as well (if they wanted to be a jerk about it). Cheaper to make and maintain than the chargers today with their expensive enclosure, display, cable, and plug, all very susceptible to vandalism. Nothing to do but drive in and see it turn on. Or, if you’re not at home, see the charge network info show up on your dash, and agree to the terms/price, etc. Nothing to plug or unplug, get dirty, or endure bad weather. Home versions are easy to make with a cable that goes over to your garage wall. And, they are simultaneously compatible with the current plug-in systems, as well. So,…where are they? Why can’t the industry agree on a standard for these and make this happen?? Has anyone heard about any headway on this clearly advantageous enhancement to the world’s imminent form of transportation?

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