US electric car sales had another record month in December, and again reached a record market share in the country. Fully electric and plug-in hybrid electric car sales reached 19,133 in December (and 144,455 sales for 2016 as a whole), which put EV market share among all passenger cars at a record 1.13% (and 0.82% for 2016 as a whole).
We already published some preliminary commentary on Ford’s newly revealed “electrified vehicle” plans for the next 5 years, but there are a couple of things not noted in that earlier article that are worth discussing here. In particular, there are more specifics regarding the cash, manufacturing, and a fully electric SUV that is in the works (to some degree).
Remember a few short years ago when the hot debate was whether cars in the future would be predominantly powered by fuel cells versus batteries? And even more fundamentally, if electric vehicles would ever move beyond the niche “green” and luxury-performance buying market? My how sentiment seems to have changed recently.
Last night, an email from Ford flew in. Ford had a hot new press release to share. This was the headline: “FORD ADDING ELECTRIFIED TRANSIT, MUSTANG, F-150 BY 2020 IN MAJOR EV PUSH; EXPANDED US PLANT TO ADD 700 JOBS.” I was super excited — “Yes, Ford is finally in the game!”
The first thing to dampen my enthusiasm was realizing that “2020” was in the title. I guess it’s not fully in the game yet, just putting its socks and boots on.
The bigger letdown?
To supplement my article published earlier today regarding the 20 fully electric car models that are currently for sale in Europe and/or North America, here’s another one on the 23 plug-in hybrids that are currently on the market in these places.
Editor’s Note: It has long been my opinion that the #1 barrier to much broader electric car adoption right now is simply lack of awareness with EVs + lack of experience with EVs. With full understanding regarding plug-in electric cars and the specific models on the market right now, I’m convinced we would have several times more electric cars on the road. However, raising awareness is slow, even with the firepower of Tesla and Elon Musk at your back. Getting people into EVs and thinking about life with EVs is even more challenging. But word of mouth is powerful once it picks up momentum, and I don’t doubt that it will with EVs. For the time being, though, we have the findings below, and yet another reason to go buy a CleanTechnica and/or EV Obsession t-shirt and mug. 😀
The Chinese firm behind the new, reworked version of the Fisker Automotive Karma (which is known as the Karma Revero), Wanxiang Group, has been granted approval by regulators in China to begin producing electric vehicles there, according to recent reports.
The Cadillac CT6 plug-in hybrid has been officially launched in the Chinese market. Two variants of the new plug-in hybrid (PHEV) offering will reportedly be available in the market — one selling for RMB 558,800 and one for RMB 658,800.
The European EV market had more than 18,500 registrations last month, 5% down over the same month last year. This sales slip has to do with the incentives-derived sales rush in the last quarter of 2015 in some major EV markets, so expect this trend to continue through December. Last month, the top spots remained more or less like in October:
Lamborghini will soon be offering a plug-in hybrid version of the Urus SUV, going by recent comments from R&D head Maurizio Reggiani.
