Plug-In Car Sales Soar In March, Led By Chevrolet Volt
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Car sales overall continued their upward trend last month, but sales of plug-in cars soared in March to more than 3,800 units.
The bulk of those sales came from a resurging Chevy Volt, which logged its highest-ever single-month sales figure, along with the debut of the Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid.
More plug-ins in total were sold last month than in any month since December 2010, when the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt--the first two mass produced electric cars of the modern era--went on sale.
Sales of the Chevrolet Volt spiked from the February total of 1,023 to 2,289, for a total of 3,915 sold so far this year. The comparable figure for January through March 2011 was just 1,210.
Volt sales were likely helped by the arrival of 2012 Volt models that qualify for solo travel in California's High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes, which went on sale in the state last month.
Nissan Leaf sales too climbed, from February's 478 to 579 last month, for a three-month total so far this year of 1,733. In 2011, that figure was only 452.
Remarkably, Toyota sold 891 Prius Plug-In Hybrids in that car's first full month on the market--or about 3 percent of the 28,711 Priuses sold in March.
The plug in Prius is the third and newest high-volume plug-in car to go sale; 7 of them also found buyers in the very last days of February.
2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid, production version road test, San Diego, CA, Jan 2012
Enlarge PhotoOther plug-ins sold during the month include the Mitsubishi 'i', which logged 56 sales for a three-month total of 136.
For the second month in a row, Ford sold no 2012 Focus Electric hatchbacks. It logged 2 sales in January, and 10 delivered last December.
We also presume there were deliveries of the Coda Sedan--since the company publicized its first sales last month.
As usual Fisker Automotive declined to provide sales of its Karma range-extended electric car.
Tesla Motors reports global sales every quarter, and we'll learn later in the month how many of their dwindling supply of Roadsters the company sold from January through March.
As we noted last week, electric car sales will rise--but it will be slow. Still, the stellar March results following a new February high give some hope that far more electrics will be sold during 2012 than in 2011.
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Nissan has been directing many of their sales to Japan before the tax benefits expire, and would like to see more dollar denominated Leaf sales. Perhaps in August when battery packs are made in the us. And definitely in December when Leafs are assembled in TN.
as you may already know, there are quite a few posters heavily biased for gm, for one reason or another.
just make a negative post about anything about gm, and start counting the negative votes for your post.
i find it quite comical.
http://dailybayonet.com/2012/03/leaf-volt-sales-february-2012/
does anyone know when nissan announced that its next year model would have a thermal management system for its battery ?
http://dailybayonet.com/2012/02/leaf-volt-sales-january-2012/
does anyone know when nissan announced battery improvements on its next year model ?
And how to do it when the technology improves and the stakes are higher. Especially as the manufacturing skills become specialized and the investments required to compete are huge and fraught with high levels of risk suited to dynamic new ventures in an old and capital intensive industry. Exactly the worst of all worlds for those who choose to sit on the sidelines.
It explains why Western Union is not a big presence in the terrestrial telephone business, and yet AT&T is big in the wireless telephone business.
much is happening, but the results dont really show.
at some point, people start noticing when it turns into a snowball.
if the bigwigs really want evs, they will come in the timeframe desired by them. we dont have to worry about it.
that should answer your question as to why i still follow the ev industry.
i simply dont worry about the things that you guys do.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/03/09/149408/koch-wikipedia-sock-puppet/
Not suggesting you are one of those sockpuppets of course...you're not are you?
money controls things. if you got enough of it, you are gonna be able to use it to your advantage.
the very wealthy are not sitting back, just waiting for happenstance to occur.
they buy out this, they buy out that, etc.
i dont quite get why that seems to be so unbelievable.
their money gives them the ability. their greed gives them the desire.
the use of energy controls almost every second of our lives.
if there is one thing in this world that we can count on, is that the wealthy know how to make their money work and grow.
this is my last comment on this subject. if you find what i have to say is helpful, fine.
if not, fine.
the automakers know exactly what they are doing. pricing it so that the cars they make will be sold.
if they make 10,000 cars this year to sell, they dont need to put a price on it such that it will attract 100,000 customers.
as supply grows, there will continue to be a new wave of customers who will be brought in by each new price reduction.
it is curious to see what timeframe this will occur in ?
they cant price evs too cheaply right now, or they would not sell any ices. and their main manufacturing process at the moment, is still with ices.
they are just beginning the transformation.
but we do have the leaf, the focus, the coda, and fisker, and a couple others. and i think quite a few others are slated to come out soon.
one thing that i have been told and researched is that apparently much of saudi arabia's deserts are in the transformation of being used to create electricity ?
can anyone verify that to be true ? (with their own eyes ?)
http://www.mlive.com/auto/index.ssf/2012/02/officials_electric_vehicle_ado.html
And maybe the Leaf is expensive because it's new technology that doesn't have cost control down to an art yet like the ICE after more than a century of experience and because it's hampered by an unfavourable dollar/yen exchange rate. US production should fix that last problem.
For the rest: I do agree it's wise to keep a keen eye on the machinations of vested interests. No doubt it's a real factor.
they want the highest prices they can get. this first wave is basically well-to-do people, such that price is not the only thing on their plate.
i suspect that most of this first wave of prices is over with.
so as i already stated, there will be successive price reductions, just big enough to bring in what will buy the next batch of cars.
they no doubt have done extensive projections on what percentages of evs vs ices will bring in the most profit, each year.
and no doubt that these projections will be adjusted as actual annual sales come in.
besides the leaf, focus, and coda - what other evs are for sale, at the moment ?
and which ones are slated to be sold within the year ?
At a lease of $424 a month, and saving around $200 in gasoline costs (the charging works out to about $2.40 per 100 miles) and its all green energy since I pay a little extra to get it from renewable resources.
In addition having access to the Car pool lanes and free parking at all city owned garages in downtown Sacramento means driving the car is virtually free.
And its a great feeling to know you are doing your part to reduce CO2 emissions.
Have an opinion? Join the conversation!