France January 2013

Kangoo ZE dashboard: Simple, functional, just like an LCV should.

At 756 units sold, the french market had a 28% monthly increase in January, thanks to a great month of the Kangoo ZE, selling 444 cars and achieving a whopping 59% market share.

Below the french LCV, the Zoe already comes in second place at 70 units, although most of them are only demonstration cars, according to Renault the first real sales month for the supermini will be March.

In third comes the Nissan Leaf, with sales rising to 60 cars from the 34 sold in December.

Further down the ranking, the Renault Twizy plunges to #5, the Peugeot is also down to #10 and the Fluence  ZE confirms their bad performance, selling just 2 units in January.

Pl	France	Jan	YTD	%	'12 Pl
1	Renault Kangoo ZE	444	444	59	1
2	Renault Zoe	70	70	9	12
3	Nissan Leaf	60	60	8	6
4	Bolloré Blue Car	58	58	8	3
5	Renault Twizy	36	36	5	2
6	Mia Electric	29	29	4	8
7	Opel Ampera	14	14	2	10
8	Citröen C-Zero	13	13	2	5
9	Smart Fortwo ED	12	12	2	11
10	Peugeot iOn	11	11	1	4
11	Chevrolet Volt	4	4	1	13
13	Fisker Karma	3	3	0	14
14	Renault Fluence ZE	2	2	0	9
15	Toyota Prius Plug-In	(a)	(a)	(a)	7
	TOTAL	756	756	100

(a) - Data not available

Source: Automobile Propre, Manufacturers

World All Time Top 10 (Updated to 15 Feb 2013)

Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf: The duel continues

With 2013 data is coming in at a slow pace, i took the time to see how it measures the all time ranking for EV's and the Top 10 models are a diversified bunch: From old timers dating back to the first electric era, like the Peugeot 106 Electrique at #7, to shiny new cars like the Tesla Model S already at #9 and looking for better standings in the next months, or from the usual electric ambassadors (Volt, Leaf, Prius...) to unsung heroes like the tiny indian Reva. 

There's also space for some french quirks, like the quadricycle Renault Twizy and the LCV Kangoo ZE at fifth and sixth places, and the surprise of seeing the Smart Fortwo ED at #10.

Just outside this All Time Top 10, but now a regular presence in the monthly Top 5,  it won't be long for the Ford C-Max Energi to reach it, making it the third Plug In Hybrid in the ranking.

Pl	Name	Sales
1	Nissan Leaf	50.987
2	Chevrolet Volt (1)	40.608
3	Toyota Prius Plug-In	27.070
4	Mitsubishi i-Miev (2)	22.065
5	Renault Twizy	9.020
6	Renault Kangoo ZE	7.135
7	Peugeot 106 Electrique	6.400
8	REVA G-Wiz / L-ion	4.000
9	Tesla Model S	3.703
10	Smart Fortwo ED	3.292

(1) - Also includes Holden Volt, Opel and Vauxhall Ampera sales;

(2) - Also includes Citröen C-Zero and Peugeot iOn sales.

Canada January 2013

Toyota Prius Plug-In dash, a mish mash  of buttons and 80's graphics

At 118 cars sold in January, the canadian plug-in market had a stable market, with the two top models maintaining their positions despite a weak month from the Volt.

January was a record month for the Prius Plug-In with 33 sales, enough to remove the I-Miev from #3 and close in on the top two. Speaking of Mitsu's small electric, its first month of the year was horrible, selling just 4 cars.

Pl	Canada	Jan	YTD	%	'12 Pl.
1	Chevrolet Volt	44	44	37	1
2	Nissan Leaf	37	37	31	2
3	Toyota Prius Plug-In	33	33	28	5
4	Mitsubishi I-Miev	4	4	3	3
TOTAL		118	118	100

Source: Good Car Bad Car

World Full Year 2012

At 124.207 EV's sold, 2012 doubled sales regarding '11 and a lot has happened since then, beginning with a new best seller crown bearer, with the Volt family removing the Nissan Leaf from the top spot, thanks to tripling sales in the US, now the largest EV market by far.

Despite a recovery in the last months of 2012, Nissan's electric couldn't help dropping to third, losing the silver medal to the Prius Plug-In, making it a great landing year, especially considering that it was only available on the second half of the year in most markets.

Thanks to strong initial sales that lasted through the summer, the tiny Renault Twizy secured a brilliant fourth place, even outselling the I-Miev family, 2010's best selling electric car.

Beside the Twizy, contributing for Renault's fourth place with 14% share in the manufacturers ranking, comes the Kangoo ZE (#6) and Fluence ZE (#9). Already showing up in the Top 10 and despite being sold only in the final months of the year, both Tesla Model S and Ford C-Max Energi look to 2013 with eyes on the top spots and promising some headaches to the podium bearers.

Further down the ranking, we welcome two newcomers, the Toyota RAV4 EV (#20) and the Roewe E50, to be noted that the chinese model had only December as a full month of sales, but it was enough to put it in #19.

As a curiosity, 2012 was the first year that Plug-In Hybrids sold more than pure BEV's, although the difference between them wasn't significative (less than 200 units).

Pl	Name	2012	%
1	Chevrolet Volt (1)	29.597	24
2	Toyota Prius Plug-In (e)	27.100	22
3	Nissan Leaf	26.973	22
4	Renault Twizy	9.020	7
5	Mitsubishi i-Miev (2)	7.924	6
6	Renault Kangoo ZE	5.674	5
7	Tesla Model S	2.503	2
8	Ford C-Max Energi	2.374	2
9	Renault Fluence ZE	2.086	2
10	Fisker Karma	1.840	1
11	BYD E6	1.690	1
12	Bolloré Blue Car	1.543	1
13	Mitsubishi Minicab Miev	1.307	1
14	BYD F3 DM	1.201	1
15	BMW Active E	867	1
16	Ford Focus Electric	685	1
17	Mia Electric	455	0
18	Smart Fortwo ED	298	0
19	Roewe E50	238	0
20	Toyota RAV4 EV	192	0

(1) - Holden Volt, Opel and Vauxhall Ampera included;

(2) - Peugeot iOn and Citröen C-Zero included;

(e) - Estimate.

USA January 2013

Tesla Model S dashboard -  It reminds me of a Apple/IKEA mash up... 

Despite a sharp decline (41%) regarding last December, truth is that at 4.593 units sold, January represented a three fold surge over '12 January, a sign that we should see a 100K plus market in the year end.

Tesla shot up to #1 with at least 1.200 sales, taking advantage of their competitors shortage of stock (Volt, Leaf), or bad months (C-Max, Prius).

Nevertheless, only the Nissan Leaf sold less than the year before, with every other model increasing significantly their sales.

With an enormous waiting list, it's looks that Tesla will become the expected surprise of the year, even if it won't repeat last months feat.

Pl	USA	Jan'13	YTD	%	Jan '12
1	Tesla Model S	1.200	1.200	26	N/A
2	Chevrolet Volt	1.140	1.140	25	603
3	Toyota Prius Plug-In	874	874	19	N/A
4	Nissan Leaf	650	650	14	676
5	Ford C-Max Energi	338	338	7	N/A
6	Mitsubishi I-Miev	257	257	6	36
7	Ford Focus Electric	81	81	2	2
8	Toyota RAV4 EV	25	25	1	N/A
9	Fisker Karma	20	20	0
10	Honda Fit EV	8	8	0	N/A
11	Honda Accord Plug-In	2	2	0	N/A
	TOTAL	4.593	4.593	100	1.317

Source: insideevs.com

Sweden January 2013

Volvo V60 Plug-In Dashboard

January was a record month for Plug-In cars in Sweden with 174 units sold and possibly the first time that the EV's got more than 1% share in the general market.

The Volvo V60 Plug-In is building momentum since it was launched in November, rising now to #2, just five cars behind the Prius, so it won't be a surprise to see soon a new leader in the swedish models ranking, which would be a comeback for the home maker since the first place in 2010 of the C30 Electric, this month that goal already has been achieved as a brand, Volvo got 35% share against 33% from Toyota.

A good month too for the Nissan Leaf at 29 units, enough to pass the Renault Kangoo ZE and break into third position.

On a side note, it's strange as Renault doesn't invest more in scandinavian markets, as these are promising countries regarding EV's, maybe the french maker is waiting for the right car (Zoe) to go in, but they sure are loosing opportunities here...

Pl	Sweden	Jan	YTD	%	'12 Pl.
1	Toyota Prius Plug-In	58	58	33	1
2	Volvo V60 Plug-In	53	53	30	6
3	Nissan Leaf	29	29	17	3
4	Renault Kangoo ZE	24	24	14	2
5	Volvo C30 Electric	9	9	5	4
6	Citröen C-Zero	1	1	1	8
	TOTAL	174	174	100

Source: Bilsweden

Norway January 2013

Introducing a dashboard themed month, here's a picture from Nissan's Leaf

The first sales data from 2013 came from Norway, with 349 cars sold, a 26% increase over last month, benefiting from another great month the Nissan Leaf with 265 sales and #9 in the general ranking, the second time ever to break the Top 10, after last October hitting also #9 and posting a record 277 sales.

A good month also for the Mitsubishi I-Miev, with 51 units, compensating a less than expected sales level from their french cousins.

There aren't still sales data from the Toyota Prius Plug-In, but with the Opel Ampera selling just 12 units, it won't be hard for it to take the Plug In Hybrid crown.

Pl	Norway	Jan	YTD	%	'12 Pl.
1	Nissan Leaf	265	265	76	1
2	Mitsubishi I-Miev	51	51	15	2
3	Peugeot iOn	12	12	3	3
4	Opel Ampera	12	12	3	6
5	Citröen C-Zero	8	8	2	4
6	Think City	1	1	0	8
TOTAL		349	349	100

Source: dinside.no