Canada February 2016

Volt Edition

Canadian EV Sales accelerated growth in February, with 374 new plug-ins zooming around in Canadian streets, which represents a 89% increase regarding last year.

The Volt consolidated its position in #1, with 102 units sold, up 168% regarding February '15, while the Tesla Model S is close to remove the Nissan Leaf from the second position.

Below the podium, the Audi A3 e-Tron and Kia Soul EV have caught the BMW i3 off-guard and have a precious lead over the Bimmer in the race for the Fourth position.

Pl	Canada	Feb.	YTD	%
1	Chevrolet Volt	102	196	26
2	Nissan Leaf	51	123	16
3	Tesla Model S e)	75	122	16
4	Kia Soul EV  e)	30	79	10
5 6 7	Audi A3 e-Tron BMW i3 e) P. Cayenne Plug-In e)	30 35 15	70 60 33	9 8 4
8	BMW i8 e)	5	16	2
9	Mitsubishi I-Miev	8	15	2
10	Ford C-Max Energi e)	8	13	2
11 12 13 14 15 15	Ford Fusion Energi e) BMW X5 40e PHEV e) Cadillac ELR Ford Focus Electric Chevrolet Spark EV Smart Fortwo ED	7 5 3 1 1	12 6 4 3 1 1	2 1 1 0 0 0
	TOTAL	374	754	100

e) Estimate

Source: Greencarreports; Good Car Bad Car

Japan February 2016

Second Life  - Chapter Two Edition

The Japanese EV is up 57% YoY, with 4.475 units. representing the best selling month in three years, and placing the EV Share at over 1,1%, or near record levels.

The 30kWh-rejuvenated Nissan Leaf continues to be the main driving force, with 2.819 units, beating its five year record of 2.593 units, established in Feb. '11, and leaving the Outlander PHEV miles behind, Mitsu's SUV recorded 1.317 units, up 117% YoY, but significantly behind its  2014 (1.630 sales) and 2013 (2.079) February performances.

Pl	Japan	February	2016	%	Pl '15
1	Nissan Leaf	2.819	5.322	66	2
2	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	1.317	2.118	26	1
3	BMW i3 e)	100	200	3	4
4	Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia e)	50	100	1	7
5	Mitsubishi Minicab Miev	71	94	1	8
6 7 8 9 10	Toyota Prius Plug-In Mitsubishi I-Miev Tesla Model S e) Mit. Minicab Miev Truck BMW i8 e)	29 39 25 20 5	75 70 50 26 10	1 1 1 0 0	3 5 6 9 10
	TOTAL	4.475	8.065	100

e) Estimate

Netherlands February 2016

The Hangover, Part 2 - Pure Electrics Revenge Edition

After the historic month of December, the hangover continued in February, with only 465 sales, down 18% regarding January and a mammoth 67% YoY, looking at the comparable month of February 2014, following to the also historic December '13, sales were down 60%, to add to this gloom, we have to go back to 2013 to find a second month of the year with such low level of sales (421 units then), this was still a time when the Prius Plug-In ruled, with 198 units, followed by the Opel Ampera (101) and...The Kangoo ZE (33). No Outlander PHEV, no Tesla...Different times indeed.

The EV Share reflects these bad times, with little more than 1% (1.28%), when 2015 ended with 9.63%, the market share wasn't so low since 2012, when it reached 1.1%...

Looking at the current ranking, both the Tesla Model S and the Nissan Leaf are ahead of the pack, a surprising lead from two 100% electric cars in the Capital of Plug-In Hybrids, something that didn't happened since the Jurassic 2011, when the same Leaf (Best Selling Model that year) and the Smart Fortwo ED were Gold and Silver medals, respectively. 

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Tesla Model S	75
2	Nissan Leaf	67
3	Mercedes C350e   e)	40
3	Volvo XC90 T8 PHEV	39
5	Volkswagen Passat GTE	37

As been said earlier, pure electrics are experiencing a good moment here, for the first time since 2011, they represent the majority of sales (54%), but this doesn't look like a long term trend, behind the top two models there are none other than six plug-in hybrids in the ranking, three of them with less than a year of presence in the market, and all of them possible leaders in the future.

Looking at the manufacturers ranking, Volkswagen tops the manufacturers trophy, with 22% share, followed by Nissan (17%) in Second, while Tesla and Volvo (15%) share the Third Spot.

Pl	Netherlands	Feb.	YTD	%	'15Pl
1 2	Tesla Model S Nissan Leaf	75 67	159 150	15 15	8 13
3	Volkswagen Passat GTE	37	142	14	6
4	Volvo V60 Plug-In	25	78	8	3
5 6 7	Volvo XC90 T8 PHEV Volkswagen Golf GTE   e) Mercedes C350e  e)	39 15 7	77 61 47	7 6 5	7 2 5
8	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	13	43	4	1
9 10 10	Mercedes B250e BMW 330e BMW i3	24 33 22	40 33 33	4 3 3	19 25 12
12	Renault Zoe	14	31	3	14
13	Audi A3 e-Tron	8	21	2	4
13	Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia	20	21	2	15
15	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In	3	19	2	10
16 16 16 19 20 21 22 23 24 24 26 26 26 26 26	Volkswagen e-Up! Volkswagen e-Golf   e) BMW X5 40e PHEV Kia Soul EV Mercedes GLE500e Ford C-Max Energi BMW i8 BMW 225xe Active Tourer Porsche Panamera Plug-In Renault Twizy Mercedes S500e Mitsubishi I-Miev Smart Fortwo ED Toyota Prius Plug-In Renault Kangoo ZE	6 5 2 5 4 2 3 1 1 1 1 1	12 12 12 10 7 6 5 4 2 2 1 1 1 1 1	1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	28 28 11 24 27 9 20 17 21 28 18 30 15 22 25
	TOTAL	465	1.032	100

Source: RAI.nl

USA February 2016

#1 in 2016?

"Sweet Home Chevy Volt" Edition

The Second Generation Chevy Volt had some big wheels to keep on turning, as the first generation had been three times the Best Selling Plug-In in the US (2010, 2012 & 2013) and the market now it's far more competitive than in those days, but as the Lynyrd Skynyrd song says, The Skies are so blue for the GM product, with Nissan having trouble in marketing the 30kWh Leaf and Tesla more worried in getting the QC right on the Model X, it seems that it will be a matter of time for the Volt to be back at Numero Uno.



In February deliveries of the sleek hatchback were up 63% YoY, to 1.126 units and with the 2017 now nation-wide Volt just arriving, expect for a super-month in March (2.5k?), rivaling the Model S usual headlining-last-quarter-month, which my guess will be at around 2.500 units also.



In April, the Model S deliveries will probably drop to the lowest point of the roller coaster, time when the Volt will finally surpass it and reach the leadership for good.



But enough guessing, looking at February, total sales were above 7.800 units, with numbers up 13% YoY, it looks that the US EV market is slowly picking up speed.

Looking at the models ranking, a word of notice is due to the Ford Fusion Energi, reaching the Bronze medal in February, thanks to 932 units, in a way, this model is the Donald Trump of EV's, despite being criticized for its small range and protruding battery pack, it continues to silence critics with decent and consistent performances (#6 in '13, #5 in '14 and '15 and now #3).



Good performance also by the Hyundai Sonata Plug-In (200 sales), continuing to improve its sales level, the same can't be said of the performance from the Tesla Model X, only 400 units delivered in its seventh month in the market is...Underwhelming. Quality Control issues continue to haunt the Sports-Minivan-SUV deliveries, luckily there hasn't been many complaints from actual drivers, but one questions how much time will pass until the "X" reaches full speed in deliveries and starts to reduce the months (years?) long waiting list.

In the manufacturers ranking, Tesla (22%) gained speed, distancing itself from but Chevrolet and Ford, both at 18% share.

Pl	USA	Feb.	YTD	%
1	Tesla Model S e)	1.475	2.284	16
2	Chevrolet Volt	1.126	2.122	15
3	Nissan Leaf	930	1.685	12
4	Ford Fusion Energi	932	1.513	11
5	Ford C-Max Energi	490	840	6
6	Tesla Model X	400	770	6
7	Audi A3 e-Tron	248	575	4
8	Volkswagen e-Golf	198	526	4
8	BMW X5 40e PHEV	345	526	4
10	Fiat 500e	210	485	3
11	BMW i3	248	430	3
12 13 14 15	Volvo XC90 T8 PHEV Hyundai Sonata Plug-In Chevrolet Spark EV Porsche Cayenne Plug-In	176 200 216 172	402 375 355 318	3 3 3 2
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25	Cadillac ELR Ford Focus Electric Kia Soul EV Smart Fortwo ED Mercedes B250e BMW i8 Por. Panamera Plug-In Mercedes S550e Toyota Prius Plug-In Mitsubishi I-Miev	91 81 60 54 37 54 33 19 6 5	158 147 141 102 95 86 60 38 16 7	1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
	TOTAL	7.806	14.056	100

e) Estimate

Source: insideevs.com; Good Car Bad Car

Tesla vs The Others

As Elon Musk pointed out, the real competition of Tesla aren't other EV's, but the ICE best selling models, so let's look how the Model S stands in its own domestic market (1): 

Pl	Model	2016
1	BMW 5-Series	6.553
2	Mercedes CLS / E-Class	5.490
3	Cadillac CTS	2.474
4	Lexus GS	2.465
5 6	Tesla Model S  e) Audi A6	2.284 1.905

  

With two months into 2016, the Model S already surpassed the Audi A6 and now has the Lexus GS and Cadillac CTS in its sights.

A curious statistic, is that all but two models in this ranking present two digit drops, the exceptions being the 5-Series (Down only 6%) and the Model S, up 9% YoY, a small feat, considering US buyers are once again infatuated by Big SUV's and leaving big sedans in dealer lots.

(1) - Unlike markets across the pond, the full-size car market in the US is much more diversified, with Chevy Impalas, Malibu's, Chrysler 300, Dodge Chargers, etc, all theoretical adversaries to the Model S, but Tesla's direct competition isn't there, so the Model S is only compared with cars with similar price and concept.

Sweden February 2016

The new leader in Sweden

Passat GTE Edition

The Swedish EV market is back at its usual self, with 639 units in February, up 110% YoY, with the EV Share jumping to 1,89%.

The VW Passat GTE, with 210 units, jumped to the leadership and all signs point that it will be there for a long time, with the homeboy hero Volvo XC90 T8 PHEV also jumping to Second Place, both in February and YTD. 

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Volkswagen Passat GTE	210
2	Volvo XC90 T8 PHEV	82
3	Volvo V60 Plug-In	47
3	BMW i3	47
5	Tesla Model S	37

A special mention for the reappearance of the Saab 9.3 NEVS, with two new units registered, a sign for things to come?

On the manufacturers ranking, Volkswagen (30%) removed Volvo from the leadership (22%), followed by BMW in Third, with 14%.

Pl	Sweden	Feb.	YTD '16	%	'15Pl
1 2	Volkswagen Passat GTE Volvo XC90 T8 PHEV	210 82	215 116	23 13	11 12
2	Volvo V60 Plug-In	47	88	10	4
3 4 5	Nissan Leaf BMW i3 * Renault Zoe	36 47 28	83 73 62	9 8 7	3 7 6
6	Tesla Model S	37	56	6	2
7	Audi A3 e-Tron	21	38	4	8
8 8 8	BMW X5 40e PHEV BMW 225xe Active Tourer Volkswagen Golf GTE	8 24 23	24 24 24	3 3 3	16 N/A 5
11 12	Volkswagen e-Golf Renault Kangoo ZE	15 9	21 20	2 2	10 14
13	Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia **	10	19	2	9
13	Volkswagen e-Up!	12	19	2	13
15 16 16 16 19 19 19 22 22	Mercedes C350e BMW 330e Peugeot Partner EV Toyota Prius Plug-In Kia Soul EV Mercedes GLE500e Saab 9.3 NEVS Mitsubishi I-Miev Mercedes S500e	11 5 3 4 2 2 2 1	12 5 5 5 2 2 2 1 1	1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0	17 N/A 24 15 19 27 N/A N/A 24
	TOTAL	639	917	100

* - 38 Rex + 9 Bev

** - 2 Pass / 8 LCV

Source: bilsweden.se

Italy February 2016

BMW might have a winner here

Active Tourer Edition

Unlike other markets, the Italian EV market is not experiencing growth, with year to date sales inclusively dropping 13% regarding 2015, with the EV Share at a low 0,11%.

Looking at the models ranking, there is a surprise in the ranking, with the newcomer BMW 225xe Active Tourer scoring an impressive 94 units, the best monthly result for any model in the last 10 months and a record for any plug-in BMW.

The Volkswagen Golf GTE was the third Best Selling model in February, jumping to Fourth and underlining a fundamental change in the market: The rise of PHEV's, in 2016 they count 42% of the EV market, when last year they had 21% and in 2014 only 9%...

As for pure electrics, the Nissan Leaf continues to sell in decent numbers, the veteran C-Zero is experiencing a Second Youth, placed in the Runner-up position, while the sports-sedan Tesla Model S had another two digit month, placing it at a best ever Fifth position.

Looking at the manufacturers ranking, the chronic leader Renault (Fourth, with just 8% share) had a horrible start, leaving the leadership for BMW, with 34% Share, followed by Nissan (16%) and Volkswagen (10%).

Pl	Italy	Feb.	YTD	%	'15Pl
1	BMW 225xe Active Tourer	94	103	30	N/A
2 3	Citröen C-Zero Nissan Leaf	13 32	67 56	19 16	6 1
4	Volkswagen Golf GTE	25	32	9	5
5	Tesla Model S	10	22	6	8
6	Renault Twizy e)	10	20	6	4
7 8 9 10	BMW X5 40e Mercedes B250e Peugeot iOn Renault Zoe	2 5 6	15 12 11 9	4 3 3 3	11 10 22 2
11 11	BMW i3 Volkswagen e-Up!	1 2	4 4	1 1	3 11
13	Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia	1	2	1	17
14	Renault Kangoo ZE	1	1	0	N/A
14	Smart Fortwo ED		1	0	9
	TOTAL	204	359	100

Source: greenstart.it

Spain February 2016

A Good Start - Second Edition

A good 227 units were registered last month, with sales shooting up 114% YoY, the Spanish EV market is having a good start, let's see if that this keeps on going throughout the year.

The Nissan Leaf cemented the leadership, registering 46 units, ahead of the 2015 Best Seller, the Outlander PHEV, with 46 units to date, followed by two delivery vans: The Renault Kangoo ZE (39 units) and the Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia (35).

Good sales month for the Kia Soul EV, with 12 deliveries, while two newcomers have landed with promising results: The VW Passat GTE registered its first nine units and the BMW 330e did the same with 8 new deliveries. 

On the manufacturers ranking, Nissan stays firm in the leadership (31%), followed by Renault (17%) and BMW (16%).

Pl	Spain	Feb.	YTD'16	%	'15Pl
1	Nissan Leaf	46	108	23	3
2 3 4 5	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Renault Kangoo ZE Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia BMW i3 *	18 24 24 14	46 39 35 34	10 8 8 7	1 5 6 7
6 7	Renault Zoe Kia Soul EV	15 12	26 19	6 4	4 10
7	Volkswagen Golf GTE	11	19	4	11
9	Volvo XC90 T8 PHEV	7	18	4	N/A
10	BMW X5 40e PHEV	6	14	3	15
11	BMW i8	1	12	3	14
11 11 14 15 15 17 18 19 19 21 22 23 23 23 23 27 27 27 27	Audi A3 e-Tron Renault Twizy Volkswagen Passat GTE BMW 330e BMW 225xe Active Tourer Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Tesla Model S Mercedes B250e Citröen C-Zero Volkswagen e-Golf Smart Fortwo ED Volkswagen e-Up! Volvo V60 Plug-In Piaggio Porter EV Porsche Panamera Plug-In Mercedes C350e Peugeot iOn Citröen Berlingo EV Mitsubishi I-Miev	5 5 9 8 3 3 3 5 2 3 1 1 1	12 12 9 8 8 7 6 5 5 4 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1	3 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	9 8 N/A N/A N/A 13 23 20 24 16 2 18 20 12 17 26 27 29 32
	TOTAL	227	461	100

Source: forococheselectricos.com

* - 4 Bev+10 Rex