August sales of plug-in hybrids in US up 83% from July, up 65% y-o-y
06 September 2013
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| Monthly sales of plug-in hybrids in US. Data: EDTA, automakers. Click to enlarge. |
Sales of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in the US in August reached 6,407 units—up 83% from the prior month and up 65% from results in August 2012. jumped 83% from the prior month to 6,407 units. The results marked the strongest monthly results to date for plug-in hybrids (i.e., not conventional hybrids, and not battery-electric vehicles.)
Sales were led by the Chevy Volt, with 3,351 units, up 18.4% from its August 2012 results of 2,831 units. Jan-August 2013 sales for the Volt were 14,994 units, up 11.1% from the same period in 2012. The Prius PHV put in a very strong second-place showing of 1,791 units in August 2013, up 65% from 1,047 units in August 2012. Its sales for the first 8 months of 2013 were 6,822 units, up 11.6% from the same period in 2012.
Third place went to the Ford C-MAX Energi with 621 units, up 43% from July 2013. The Ford Fusion Energi followed with 600 units, up 47% from July 2013. The C-MAX Energi has sold 3,536 units from January-August 2013; the Fusion Energi 2,591. Neither of the Ford plug-in hybrids was on sale in August 2012.
Honda’s Accord PHEV posted 44 units in August, with 2013 sales through August of 298 units.
August PHEV share. The August results gave the Volt a 52.3% share of the plug-in hybrid market for that month, followed by Toyota with 28% and the two Ford plug-in hybrids with a combined 19.1%.
With overall light-duty vehicles sales of 1,503,151 units in August (up 17% year-on-year), according to AutoData, plug-in hybrids had a 0.4% share of the August new vehicle market.
Battery electrics. Monthly reporting on battery electric sales is a bit complicated by Tesla’s reserving its sales reporting for its quarterly financial statements. However, the Nissan LEAF reported 2,420 August deliveries, up 253.3% from the 685 units in August 2012.
LEAF posted 14,123 units for the first 8 months of 2013, up 234% from the same period in 2012.
The second tier of BEVs (below the Nissan LEAF/Tesla Model S level) saw Toyota deliver its best performance yet with the RAV4 EV (231 units). The smart for two electric posted 182 units (according to hybridcars.com and Baum). The Ford Focus Electric reported 175 units sold, for its second-best performance of 2013 and up 414.7% from the 34 units in August 2012. The Chevy Spark posted 102 units, the Honda Fit EV 66 units; and the Mitsubishi i-MiEV 30 units. Fiat is not breaking out 500e sales.
That adds up to 3,206 BEV units in August—assuming Tesla posted upward of 1,700 units of the Model S in August, that would results in August BEV sales of roughly 4,900 units, and thus bring total plug-in vehicle sales to above roughly 11,300 units for the month of August, for a new vehicle market share of roughly 0.75%.
More an more Americans are seeing the lights and buying more efficient electrified vehicles, even if the initial cost a bit more?
Close to +100% increase over same period last year is interesting? If this trend is maintained, total e-vehicles sale could reach 5% to 10% by 2020 in USA and probably 30% to 50% in Japan?
Posted by: HarveyD | 06 September 2013 at 08:40 AM
“More and more Americans”
GM dealers delivered 275,847 vehicles in the United States in August of which the Chevy Volt was 3,351 (1%). Toyota sold 1,791 PHEV out of 231,537 (1%).
“plug-in hybrids had a 0.4% share of the August new vehicle market. ”
Not much of a trend.
“even if the initial cost a bit more”
Actually it is a lot more. People like Harvey will pay a ‘bit more’ to get a car that uses more gas like a Camry. Some will pay a lot more for a Luxus. There are not many that will pay a lot more to haul a lot of batteries around and plug their car daily.
By 2020, look for BEV next to Edsel in a museum as an example of a bad idea that Americans rejected.
Posted by: Kit P | 06 September 2013 at 10:03 AM
Last year the sales increased towards the end of the year also because of the tax credit. Might end up selling 20,000 per month later this year.
Good to see cars that get cleaner to run as they age sell well. Compared to gas cars that will have to rely mostly on oil sand in the future.
Posted by: Mskz06 . | 06 September 2013 at 03:43 PM
Sales of electrified vehicles in Japan have already reached 25% and 8% in California. Many other States and Countries will soon follow Japan's and California's lead.
People like Kit P will soon have to start counting.
Posted by: HarveyD | 07 September 2013 at 07:27 AM
"Japan have already reached 25% and 8% in California."
Harvey is waiting until BEV get better before he buys. This implies that buying one now is not smart. So why should I count not smart things?
Posted by: Kit P | 08 September 2013 at 09:41 AM
I would also wait for BEV prices to come down (if ever...). I could consider buying a PHEV with small batteries, though, if the price was right. However, in Sweden, a Prius PHEV cost $ 13 000 more than the normal Prius, which is simply too much. So far, neither BEVs nor PHEVs could be considered a success story.
Posted by: Peter_XX | 09 September 2013 at 10:51 PM
Kit P...my wife and I are driving HEVs (Toyotas), at least until such times, as the internal garages in the Condo building we live in, are equipped with appropriate charging access and many more public high speed charging facilities are installed.
Otherwise, we would already be driving PHEVs, at least till 2020 and BEVs thereafter.
Our Provincial Government will soon offer a new support program to accelerate vehicle's electrification and use more of the current and future Hydro surpluses.
Neighboring States Governors and Provincial Prime Ministers have agreed yesterday to campaign USA's Fed authorities to officially make hydro electricity; Green, Clean Renewable energy.
Posted by: HarveyD | 10 September 2013 at 07:07 AM