Tesla Model 3 is here, and that has pushed me to again incorporate Tesla sales estimates into our monthly US electric car sales reports. Well, that and a repeated request from readers to bring back Tesla’s US sales estimates*.
Is it some kind of crazy coincidence? Is it the stars teaming up with a starry-eyed Elon? Or is it simply in the socio-quantum physics of how technology transitions occur?
Chevrolet is shutting down the Orion Township factory where it makes the Bolt electric car for a few extra weeks this summer to deal with mounting inventories. Meanwhile, Tesla is preparing to ramp up production of the Model 3.
The Chinese market had more than 43,000 new EVs zooming the streets last month. With the market growing below expectations, at 16% YoY, this performance from China feels like when LeBron James scores 28 points in an NBA Finals game — it would be a great score for anyone else, but people expect more from the star of the team.
2017 is showing notable environmental improvements percolating in the UK, with record highs of plug-in car sales as well as renewable energy generation records. So far this year, 22,480 plug-in cars have been registered in the UK, which means that EV buyers registered more electric and plug-in hybrid cars during the first half of 2017 than in any previous 6 month period.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance has a new prediction about electric cars — they will account for more than half of all new car sales globally by 2040 and account for a third of all light duty vehicles on the road. The latest report was put together by an advanced team of BNEF analysts and takes several factors into account. Its predictions are significantly more optimistic than the last BNEF report just one year ago, which projected sales of electric cars would reach 35% of the market by 2040.
I just wrote a piece putting Tesla’s H1 2017 sales into a bit of perspective. At the end, I started getting into Tesla sales versus gas vehicle sales in the Model S and Model X classes, but then decided this topic deserved its own piece, with a focus on how sales of of the various models changed in H1 2017 versus H1 2016.
Big Auto gets a lot of criticism here. The problem for large automakers is that they will crush their own finances and have to write off massive investments if they rapidly shift to electric transport, but they are also exposing themselves to great threat if they are too slow electrifying their offerings. Nonetheless, it’s hard to sympathize when gas & diesel cars are destroying our planet’s climate and countless humans’ health — sometimes the moral high ground should trump the wrath of shareholders.
Tesla Model 3 production starts in a couple of days. A next-gen Nissan LEAF with long range and ProPilot is expected to be released later this year. A year ago, we thought these factors were already eating into Nissan LEAF sales and would hurt Chevy Bolt sales, and we figured the story would get worse for the LEAF in 2017. Surprisingly, US LEAF sales are up this year compared to 2016! June again saw more LEAF sales than the same month in 2016.
The European passenger plug-in market had more than 21,000 registrations last month, up 48% over the same month last year. Year-t0-date, the market is up 27% this year, with the EV share standing at 1.4%.
With quality control issues solved in the second half of the month, the Renault Zoe was once again Master in Command, with the BMW i3 and Outlander PHEV recovering some ground over the ageing Nissan Leaf.
