The largest number of one single battery-electric car sold in the U.S. in a single year is 30,000, the total logged in 2014 by the Nissan Leaf. (Of course, we don't know Tesla's sales because the company doesn't break out its quarterly global delivery totals by country.)
But those were back in the day when affordable electric cars (with prices under, say, $40,000) had ranges of 60 to 85 miles.
The 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV, which is to go on sale in initial markets before the end of this year, is priced at $37,495 before incentives and rated at 238 miles of range by the EPA.
So you might expect it to change the equation. We asked our Twitter followers how many Bolt EVs they thought would be sold in the U.S. during its first 12 months on sale.
How many Chevy Bolt EVs will be sold in the U.S. in its first 12 months?
The options ranged from a low of 15,000 (fewer than the Volt plug-in hybrid is likely to sell this year) to a high of 75,000.
And the selections indicate a certain optimism about the Bolt EV as a game changer.
The most common answer, chosen by about one-third of respondents (32 percent) was 40,000 units.
But both 15,000 and 25,000 were right behind it, with 29 percent and 28 percent of votes respectively.
2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV, road test, California coastline, Sep 2016
Only 11 percent of those who participated in the poll chose the highest option, 75,000 units.
The question of Bolt EV volume has been a contentious one recently, with one supplier quoted last year as saying GM's initial orders indicated a volume of about 30,000 cars.
One analyst, however, suggested that the market for the Bolt EV could be as large as 75,000 cars.
GM has never officially commented on volume, with Kevin Kelly from its advanced-technology communications group saying only that the company was not production-constrained, and could produce as many Bolt EVs as the market demanded.
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