We recently published an article discussing the fastest and the quickest plug-in electric cars on the market. One of the commentators on the article noted that such information wasn’t relevant to most people, and that he would rather read an article comparing the details of the least expensive electric vehicles out there, not the most expensive.
The European passenger plug-in market ended the 2017 season with a near record performance, growing 11% compared to the same period last year by registering some 33,700 units, just a whisker below the all-time record of December 2015 (33,827) — which, let’s not forget, was inflated by fiscal changes that happened in the Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark in January 2016.
With the intent being to educate those in the USA who are now in the market for an all-electric vehicle, I’m going to provide an overview here of the widely available and mass produced options out there. There’s more on the market than the Tesla Model 3, Tesla Model S, Tesla Model X, Nissan LEAF, Chevy Bolt, and BMW i3 … but not a lot more.
The median range for an all-electric vehicle in the US has nearly doubled over the last 6 years or so, according to data from the US Department of Energy (FuelEconomy.gov).
To be more exact, going on that data, the median range rating for an all-electric plug-in vehicle sold in the US has grown from 73 miles per full charge (with regard to model year 2011) to 114 miles per full charge (with regard to model year 2017) as of the end of this year.
The rise and rise of the Chinese plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) market is unstoppable, with yet another record performance in November — 84,000 new passenger PEVs registered last month. That’s almost double last year’s total for November. That 84,000 also put the year to date (YTD) count over 490,000, up 60% year over year (YoY).
A record 55,000 new passenger electric cars were registered last month in China, with the market growing 68% compared to the same month last year and pulling the year-to-date (YTD) count to over 282,000 electric cars, up 45% year over year (YoY).
Daimler revealed a new electric concept car this past week by introducing the Smart vision EQ fortwo, a car that combines familiar Smart design elements with some forward-thinking technology. Unsurprisingly, self-driving is front and centre of this concept, demonstrating Daimler’s commitment to its own car2go service, and asserting its intention to be a key player in the future of urban mobility.
The European passenger plug-in market had a near-record month in June, with 28,000 registrations, up 54% over the same month last year. For the year through June, the market is up 30% this year, with the EV share now standing at a record 1.5%.
Daimler’s popular Smart brand will be moving away from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles in the US and Canada in the coming years — completely — and fully embracing all-electric vehicles instead.
We’ve been rather discretely rolling out cleantech consumer buying guides, which we’ll be continuously updating and improving as time goes on. The first resource page (found at products.cleantechnica.com) covers current electric cars for sale (or soon coming to market) in North America and Europe.
