2013 in Review

2013, or Year Three for the Modern Age of Electric Cars, has been full of new EV launches and landmarks, so let's look at some of them:

Tesla Model S Tops Norway Car Ranking

We knew this would come eventually, but few expected to be so soon, and it wasn´t a freak event, because the Nissan Leaf also topped Norway's chart in October and in November the Outlander PHEV did it in the Netherlands.


Global Sales Continue to Grow

After a shaky start, EV sales have increased greatly in the second half of the year, with global sales expected to arrive near the 200.000 units barrier, 40% more than a year ago.


EV Heaven Starts with an "N"

"N" for Norway and "N" for Netherlands. Both were already ahead of the curve regarding plug-ins, but this year their respective EV Shares grew significantly, with Norway going from 3,12% in 2012 to 5,43% in November '13 and the Netherlands now at 3,50%, up from 1,10% in '12.

Other markets to grow significantly their EV Shares were Iceland (0,21% in '12 Vs 0,88% right now) and Hong Kong (0,42% in '13 Vs 0,21% last year), on the other hand, plug-ins had setbacks in Spain, Ireland  and Israel, if the first two can be attributed to problems in their economies, the case of Israel has to do with the Better Place failure, also one of the events of the year.


Tesla Keeps on Growing

Despite costing twice as more as the average electric car, the California-based manufacturer is among the best-selling brands in the market (20k units this year) AND it still has production constraints, 2014 will be an important chapter in Tesla's history because not only it will finally have a global distribution network, but it will also double production capacity of the Model S and introduce the Model X, a crossover that many has been expecting impatiently...

Outlander PHEV Ups and Downs

This year has been a Roller Coaster Ride for Mitsubishi, after a great start for the Outlander PHEV in the beginning of the year, leading the Japanese EV market in March, the battery problems that came after put it on a several months production drought that could have hurt their career forever.

Fortunately for Mitsubishi, consumers didn't runaway (Also because there aren't other SUV's with a plug) and waited for the production to resume, originating a long reservations list that Mitsu is now delivering and beating sales records.


Volvo V60 Plug-In Hits the Jackpot

Europeans love Station Wagons just like they love diesel engines, so Volvo put 2+2 together and in the end of 2012 came up with the V60 Plug-In Hybrid.

At first it was just another step (Like the C30 Electric was before) in the future electrification of their lineup, but then reservations started to arrive and they didn't stopped pouring in, even when production passed from 1.000 to 5.000 units, then the swedish carmaker realized the hit they had on their hands and started to sell it across Europe with good results.

Now they are talking in 10.000 units for 2014 and a new XC90 Plug-in by the end of the year...

Quo Vadis, Zoe?

Renault had big hopes for its Zoe, wanting to make it a sort of Euro-Taste-Leaf and hoping it would lead plug-in sales in the Old Continent.

Despite a promising first half of the year, as new competition joined the race and sales started to grow in the summer, Zoe's sales started to suffer, in November it was just #5 in Europe, the next months should see the BMW i3 and VW e-Up! gaining traction, and i suspect that the french hatch sales will be on the menu of those two...


The Germans are Coming!

Until recently, German manufacturers had a pretty conservative approach towards Electric Cars and Alternative Fuels in general, with the only production EV being the french-german Smart Fortwo ED, and even this had limited availability.

This year things changed, first Smart increased production of its electric version and actually started to sell it willingly, then Porsche (Panamera S E-Hybrid), BMW (i3) and VW (e-Up!) recently introduced their first production models, and with more to come next year (BMW i8, VW e-Golf, Audi A3 e-tron, MB B-Class ED, Porsche 918...), it looks that german carmakers will catch up other EV makers fast.

BYD Qin

China still waiting in the sidelines  

With all the energy and pollution problems that the largest world economy has, one could expect that EV's would be a priority, only high import taxes, little consumer interest and domestic EV offer with limited appeal left the chinese plug-in market pretty much like last year, with sales hovering around 10.000 units/year and the little Chery QQ3 EV as the undisputed leader with half of the market.

The new additions (Roewe E50,  Springo EV) were flops, selling little more than a hundred units, while the promised gamechanger BYD Qin was successively postponed and went on sale just a few days ago. Could 2014 be any different? Let's hope so.


New Gen Hypercars grow a Plug

With the McLaren P1 in Geneva and Porsche 918 in Frankfurt ready for production, a new trend started to emerge in SportsCarLand: Electrification.

Besides the two above, there's also the hybrid Ferrari LaFerrari (Dumb name, awesome looks) and the soon-to-be-released BMW i8, along with others still-in-concept-car-form projects (Honda NSX, etc).

The reason for this? Yes, there is the matter of fuel consumption, but perhaps most importantly, it's a new way to increase power and a technological achievement that puts them ahead of the competition.

Memory Lane - 2011

A future-classic 

2011 was Year One for the Modern Age of Electric Cars, with sales shooting upwards and the Top 5 ranking now resembling what we now know, following the introduction of the Nissan Leaf and the Volt family.

Best-selling Plug-In Cars of 2011

1 - Nissan Leaf - 21.565 units;

2 - Chevrolet Volt (a) - 8.187 units;
(a) - Includes Opel and Vauxhall Ampera

3 - Mitsubishi I-Miev (b) - 8.161 units;
(b) - Includes Peugeot iOn and Citröen C-Zero

4 - Smart Fortwo ED - 1.103 units;

5 - JAC J3 EV - 1.000 units.

The JAC J3 EV is the only stranger here but it sells well in China.

The Nissan Leaf joined the market with a bang thanks to great sales in the US (#1 with 9.674 units) and Japan (#1 with 10.310 units), followed by the Volt, thanks to its home market (#2 in the US with 7.671 units).

Behind these two rookies was the I-Miev family, scoring 8.161 units (Its best sales year ever), most of them in Europe and thanks to their french cousins from Peugeot and Citröen.

Far from the podium was the #4 Smart Fortwo ED, already in its second generation, just like the chinese JAC J3 EV, selling some 1.000 units.

Memory Lane - 2010

If 2011 can be considered as Year One of the Third Age of the Electric Car, the year before was Year Zero, with some of the current players already on the field.

Mitsubishi I-Miev

Best-selling Plug-In Cars of 2010

1. Mitsubishi I-Miev - 2.809 units;
2. Tesla Roadster - 704 units;
3. Think City - 685 units;
4. JAC J3 EV - 583 units;
5. BYD F3 DM - 417 units.

Mitsubishi began to export the I-Miev to other markets and numbers

BYD F3 DM

began to grow significantly, leaving the competition way behind.

Tesla was still in second place despite the 100.000$-plus price, Think was increasing sales in order to better endure the arrival of the new plug-in generation and the chinese brands JAC and BYD made their appearance, with the last introducing the Plug-In Hybrid concept, something that the Chevy Volt would soon take credit for. Speaking of Volt, despite arriving late to the party and registering just December as a sales month, it almost entered this ranking by scoring 326 sales. It took it one month to sell as much cars as the #3 did in six (!) months.

And the New Age began...

Memory Lane - 2008 & 2009

Some consider the launch of the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf in the end of 2010 as the beginning of the Modern Age of the Electric Car, the third of its kind, but let's not forget that before them there were already pioneers paving the way for those two headline-friendly vehicles.

In 2008 the electric car output was measured in the few hundreds, there was still a small range of electric vehicles to choose from and sales information were even more scarce, but nevertheless, here's a TOP3 ranking, just to get an idea of what was like then.

Think City

Best-selling electric cars in '08

1. Think City - 330 units;

2. Buddy EV - 250 units;

3. Tesla Roadster - 120 units.

As one can see, small numbers, but this was the year that began the Tesla journey, with the Roadster being delivered to their first customers.

The next year had two major additions, the Mitsubishi I-Miev and the lease-only Mini E, both gave visibility to the electric car and helped the number of electric cars to grow significantly, as shown in this TOP5 below.

Mini E

Best-selling electric cars in '09

1. Mitsubishi I-Miev - 852 units;

2. Tesla Roadster - 604 units;

3. Mini E - 590 units;

4. Buddy EV - 370 units;

5. Think City - 300 units.

Although these numbers can now be seen as small, they were tripling 

Tesla Roadster

the number of sales regarding 2008 and the ranking was now starting to look a contemporary one, with highway-capable vehicles that could be used just like every other car, although 3 of them were still 2 seater cars...

The then modern Mitsubishi I-Miev debuted in Japan and took over the global sales ranking right away, followed by the Roadster, now in full swing, and by the lease-only Mini E in third. 

Memory Lane - Introduction

This new section doesn't want to give a History Lesson about Electric Cars, for that we have Wikipedia, but it's made just to complete with some figures and pictures, the electric car sales preceding the period recorded by EV Sales. This post relates to the first Two Ages of the Electric Car and in the following days i'll post some more regarding the Third Age, the one we now live.


First Age of the Electric Car (1890's - 1920's)

Detroit Electric car, during its lifespan (1907-39), this manufacturer sold 13.000 electric cars

Unlike what many people might think, electric cars are not a novelty, in fact in the end of the 19th century, electric power was competing with gasoline and steam (!) as the preferential source of power for cars, with electric cars in their heyday reaching some 30% share in some markets, being recognized as easier to use, cleaner, quieter and much more economical than their competitors.

The decline began with the mass production of Ford Model T and the subsequential lowering costs of gasoline-powered cars, transforming electric ones in niche cars and then the 1929 economic crisis ended with most electric car manufacturers.


Second Age of the Electric Car (1990's - 2003)

In the beginning of the 1990's, government-led initiatives on both sides of the Atlantic, like the now famous California Air Resources Board (CARB), began a push for more ecological vehicles and several carmakers  developed electric cars as way to respond to that push, here are pictures from some of the most famous models of this Age.

With the end of government support and/or other causes, the beginning of the new century saw the end of those projects and by 2004 only the toy-like REVA G-Wiz was on sale.

Peugeot 106 Electrique - Believe it or not, this was the best selling car of this Age, total production was 6.400 units during its eight year lifespan (1995 - 2003). Its cousin, the Citröen Saxo Electrique sold another 2.500 units, performing a total of 8.900 units for PSA.

Toyota RAV4 EV (1st Generation) - Proof that electric cars are reliable, many of these vehicles are still on the roads today, despite having been produced just 1.484 units between 1997 and 2003.

GM EV1 - Like the Dodo, this car had more fame when it ceased to exist, featuring even in a starring role on a movie around the End of the Second Age. 1.117 units were produced between 1996 and 1999 and in 2002, (in)famously, all were recalled by GM to be scrapped.