The Nissan LEAF has been crushing it this year in sales. It is far-and-away the leader in electric car sales for the year to date, sitting at 16,853 compared to the Chevy Volt’s 11,598 and the Toyota Prius Plug-in’s 9,748.
August marked a record month for the Nissan LEAF. With 3,186 cars sold, it enjoyed a 31.65% increase over August 2013. For the year to date, it is up 38.3%. Have a look:
Overall, 100%-electric car sales were up 57% in August, and are up 25% for the year to date. Plug-in hybrid electric car sales were down 8% in August compared to August 2013, but they are up 41% for the year to date. All plug-in car sales were up 17% in August, and are up 33% for the year to date.
The Chevy Volt had its best sales month of the year in August. Though, that was still down 25% compared to August 2013, and Volt sales are down 15% for the year to date. Those sales seem to be getting eaten up by Ford’s Energi Plug-in hybrids (the Fusion Energi is up 257% for the year to date, and the C-Max Energi is up 69%). The Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid, also somewhat of a competitor to the Volt, is also up a lot this year, 57%.
The BMW i3, in its 4th month of sales, seems to have finally hit its stride. It had just over 1,000 sales in its first three months combined, and then hit 1,025 in the month of August alone. Let’s hope that keeps going. (I wonder if the increase is due to greater supply as production has ramped up.)
Here’s a full table of August plug-in car sales (click on it for a clearer view):
My take on these numbers and the commentary in the Washington post about them. Which sales numbers are down, straight out hybrids, and hybrids with low electric range. Which numbers are maintaining or climbing, EV’s with a decent or longer range. What vehicles are hyped to be or have actually shown up this year BMW i3 80+ miles straight electric Kia Soul EV, and VW eGolf up to 100 and maybe higher range. And the next vehicle to show that has many rumors of a much improved range, the Volt and its improved battery pack.
So are EV and hybrid sales reaching peak or stagnating, I don’t think so.
Are the people for whom the Leaf has enough range and that can afford the Model S still buying them, quite obviously.
Are the people that follow and want EV’s and longer range hybrids still out there, I think quite obviously. And with all the hype over these new models with the incremental improvements in range set to show up this fall or next year or having just got here they are waiting it out. So the numbers on the surge and ebbs of plug in hybrid and EV cars will continue, but continue to grow overall as the new models become available.