Good News, Bad News For EV Sales In First Half Of 2016

The numbers are in for EV sales in the US through the first half of 2016. Tesla leads the pack by a wide margin, especially if sales of the Model S and Model X are lumped together. Combined they accounted for about 19,000 new sales. The Chevy Volt, which costs less than half as much, was in second place at just under 10,000 sold. The Ford Fusion Energi made a strong showing, finishing in third place, just barely ahead of the Model X.

Sales of the Nissan LEAF continue to be dismal. We have some LEAF owners among our regular readers here at Gas2 and they report they are reasonably happy with their cars. But the industry has moved on while the LEAF has changed since it went on sale in 2010. It is desperately in need of greater range and styling refresh. What might have been trendy at one time now is simply dated.

BMW has two cars in the top 10 list, but that is a testament to how poorly some other cars with plugs sell. Sales of the i3 fell to just over 2,800 units. The BMW X5 PHEV is not far behind and it only went on sale this year. BMW must be deeply disappointed that all the creative energy it put into the i3 has largely gone to waste, except as it gets used to enhance the capabilities of more traditional models. The 3 series, 7 Series and X5 all have plug-in options available.

Soon, every car in the BMW line-up will offer plug-in capability, including the cars in the MINI sub-brand. The i3 also pioneered advances in carbon fiber technology. That so called lightweighting is now trickling down to other BMW models like the 7 Series sedan.

Why are cars that cost so much like the Tesla Model S and Model X outselling far less expensive cars? There is no clear answer to that question, but Tesla’s Supercharger network has to be a big part of the answer. Then there is the “cool” factor involved with driving a Tesla.

The lesson is that people will buy electric cars, but only if they are “compelling” vehicles, in the words of Elon Musk. With 400,00 reservations for the Model 3 in hand before production even begins, people clearly find the offerings from Tesla to be compelling, despite their relatively high initial cost.

Source and image credit: Inside EVs