Tesla is a completely unique auto brand.
Instead of spending money on advertising (like every other auto brand), Tesla spends money on making its products better.
In the increasingly transparent digital era we live in, this appears to be a winning formula.
Here’s our February electric car sales report for the United States, which complements our just-published Europe and China electric car sales reports.
As usual, the report only includes electric cars from Tesla and companies that report their monthly plug-in car sales. Furthermore, the Tesla sales are not official and are based on several Tesla statements, Tesla reports, Tesla forecasts, and broader consumer investigation. This month, I also started crowdsourcing estimates for Model 3 deliveries. My estimate was leaning toward 3,000, but I decided to go with Knetter’s estimate of 3,030 for the report.
The European passenger plug-in car market started the 2018 season with almost 26,000 registrations, growing 36% compared to the same period last year, a promising start that unfortunately is being made for the most part thanks to growth in plug-in hybrids (+44% year over year). In fact, plug-in hybrids now represent more than half (53%) of deliveries.
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.
In the electric vehicle (EV) world, 2018 is shaping up to be the year of Chinese electric vehicles and global startups. China is doing everything it can to establish its international brand in this arena — perhaps the hottest new consumer market of the 21st century. It makes us wonder how the West will react? Tesla, Volkswagen, BMW, Ford, GM, Daimler, and others have strong statements on electric vehicles and autonomous ones at that, but how prepared are each of them to genuinely compete?
A lot can change in the UAE in a year: new neighbourhoods can spring up, road networks expand so quickly that Google maps is always behind, and game-changing cleantech and sustainability plans that keep us on our toes can be announced over night! After the recent announcements by the Supreme Council of Energy in Dubai of incentives for buying electric and hybrid vehicles, the next question is: is the EV charging infrastructure even in place in Dubai (and the UAE) to support the intended influx of EVs?
The German auto industry faces increasing pressure from Tesla and Chinese auto makers. Can it survive the transition to electric cars?
Jaguar will begin a support series for Formula E beginning in October 2018. It will feature specially prepared I-PACE electric SUVs and will be called the eTROPHY series.
Carbon fiber is lighter than aluminum and stronger than steel, but it is expensive and non-renewable. Researches at the State University of Washington have developed a new process that blends lignite into the mix to make it less costly and more sustainable.
Yesterday, we published a story about how Chevrolet will shut down the Orion Township assembly plant where it builds the Chevy Sonic and Chevy Bolt for a few extra weeks this summer. Most legacy manufacturers take a two week break from production each year to do plant maintenance and reconfigure the assembly line for next year’s models, but the Orion summer recess will be longer than normal to reduce excess inventories. The story got a lot of comments.
