Tesla Model S, Nissan LEAF, & BMW i3 Top US Electric Car Sales In February

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Here’s my latest electric vehicle sales report, originally published on EV Obsession:

US electric car sales Feb 2015US February electric car sales are in, and the medals go to Tesla (Gold), Nissan (Silver), and BMW (Bronze). They were head and shoulders above the rest. Of course, when it comes to Tesla, it was an estimate (as requested by readers). My estimates for Tesla are based off of a number of official statements from Tesla, and I’m fairly confident about how they add up in aggregate, but they are definitely estimates.

The biggest surprise for me this month was the BMW i3’s strong showing, logging over 1,000 sales. Congrats to BMW. Naturally, everyone knows the Model S is the best electric car on the market, but that it also isn’t cheap. The BMW is a strong step down, but is a big step above most other electric cars. Furthermore, unlike the Mercedes B-Class Electric (which is comparable in many respects), the i3 is very widely available. Compared to almost every other conventional automaker (barring Nissan… and maybe GM), BMW is seriously pushing electric cars. The first part of that, of course, is actually making them available to customers.

The Chevy Volt has dropped off a lot compared to last year, but that is to be expected with the 2016 Chevy Volt soon to hit the market. Plus, competition from the BMW i3 can’t help.

As usual, Ford doesn’t stand out as a leader… until you add up the sales from its two Energi models. If you count the C-Max Energi and Fusion Energi together, Ford actually rises above BMW to take the bronze. Meanwhile, the Toyota Prius Plug-in has fallen a great deal, which is not terribly surprising when you consider how it stacks up to competitors. Yet another sign that Toyota has lost its way.

Another interesting note that Autoblog Green‘s Sebastian Blanco found is that the Chevy Volt is now just 2 sales above the LEAF in all-time US sales. The LEAF is sure to take the top spot after March sales come in, but we’ll have to wait to see if the Volt can regain enough ground once the hot 2016 edition becomes available.

You can look for more interesting tidbits in this month’s charts and tables here:

EV Model Feb 2015 Feb 2014 % Change YTD 2015 YTD 2014
BMW i3 1089 0 1759 0
BMW i8 113 0 198 0
Smart ED 76 122 -37.7% 223 219
Fiat 500e 117 185 -36.8% 236 365
Ford C-Max Energi PHEV 498 552 -9.8% 893 1023
Ford Focus Electric 145 129 12.4% 230 229
Ford Fusion Energi PHEV 603 779 -22.6% 1029 1312
Cadillac ELR 127 58 119.0% 219 99
Chevy Volt 693 1210 -42.7% 1235 2128
Chevy Spark EV 119 71 67.6% 205 164
Honda Fit EV 0 33 -100.0% 0 63
Honda Accord PHEV 12 24 -50.0% 40 51
Kia Soul EV 48 0 117 0
Mercedes B-Class Electric 109 0 349 0
Mitsubishi i 2 3 -33.3% 5 4
Nissan Leaf 1198 1425 -15.9% 2268 2677
Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid 106 0 189 0
Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid 40 57 -29.8% 101 198
Tesla Model S 2000 1800 11.1% 3500 3600
Toyota Prius PHEV 397 1041 -61.9% 798 1844
Toyota RAV4 EV 0 101 -100.0% 0 164
VW e-Golf 130 0 311 0
All EVs Total 7622 7590 0.4% 13905 14140
100% Electric Total 4916 3684 33.4% 8967 7120
PHEV Total 2706 3906 -30.7% 4938 7020


 

EV Model % of Feb 2015 % of Feb 2014 % of YTD 2015 % of YTD 2014
BMW i3 14% 0% 13% 0%
BMW i8 1% 0% 1% 0%
Smart ED 1% 2% 2% 2%
Fiat 500e 2% 2% 2% 3%
Ford C-Max Energi PHEV 7% 7% 6% 7%
Ford Focus Electric 2% 2% 2% 2%
Ford Fusion Energi PHEV 8% 10% 7% 9%
Cadillac ELR 2% 1% 2% 1%
Chevy Volt 9% 16% 9% 15%
Chevy Spark EV 2% 1% 1% 1%
Honda Fit EV 0% 0% 0% 0%
Honda Accord PHEV 0% 0% 0% 0%
Kia Soul EV 1% 0% 1% 0%
Mercedes B-Class Electric 1% 0% 3% 0%
Mitsubishi i 0% 0% 0% 0%
Nissan Leaf 16% 19% 16% 19%
Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid 1% 0% 1% 0%
Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid 1% 1% 1% 1%
Tesla Model S 26% 24% 25% 25%
Toyota Prius PHEV 5% 14% 6% 13%
Toyota RAV4 EV 0% 1% 0% 1%
VW e-Golf 2% 0% 2% 0%
All EVs Total 100% 100% 100% 100%
100% Electric Total 64% 49% 64% 50%
PHEV Total 36% 51% 36% 50%

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Zachary Shahan

Zach is tryin' to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director, chief editor, and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao. Zach has long-term investments in Tesla [TSLA], NIO [NIO], Xpeng [XPEV], Ford [F], ChargePoint [CHPT], Amazon [AMZN], Piedmont Lithium [PLL], Lithium Americas [LAC], Albemarle Corporation [ALB], Nouveau Monde Graphite [NMGRF], Talon Metals [TLOFF], Arclight Clean Transition Corp [ACTC], and Starbucks [SBUX]. But he does not offer (explicitly or implicitly) investment advice of any sort.

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