After electric vehicle sales flew off the chart in May with a record 12,000 cars sold, it was assumed June would be a pull back month of sorts as the consumer took a breath and as national EV inventories would need to be replenished.
And while June did ultimately fall short, it missed by only a hair (160 units) with an estimated 11,893 plug-ins sold in the US.
Compared to June of 2013, that was an improvement of 43% over the year prior. Adjusted for the 2 additional selling days in 2013 (26 vs 24), sales increased by a staggering 55%. For the year to date, an estimated 54,463 Americans have chosen to buy a new EV, which is up 33% from last year at this point when 40,847 EVs were sold.
At the current pace, 130,000 new vehicle purchases would be of the plug-in variety for 2014; closing in on that elusive one in every 100 vehicles purchased figure.
Looking at June specifically it was Ford(F -1.46%), who despite having to restate the all electric range and fuel efficiency of its plug-in Energi models, unexpectedly took the forefront by selling more than 3,000 EVs for the first time in its history-lead by a new all-time high 1,939 Fusion Energi sedan sales:
- Ford Fusion Energi-1,939
- Ford C-Max Energi-988
- Ford Focus Electric-197
According to our tracking, a strong month was also posted by Tesla Motors (TSLA -1.59%) as the company looked to catch up on US orders before shifting production away from the US this summer in favor of international and RHD (right hand drive) deliveries in July and August.
And while Tesla and Ford were the 'big name' movers for June, Nissan (NSANY 0.83%) continues to be the backbone of the electric vehicle industry in the US as the LEAF set its 16th consecutive record month for year-over-years sales in June with 2,347 cars sold.
Once again, that is 16 consecutive months of record sales for the LEAF. The electric Nissan has also been the best selling plug-in vehicle overall for the past 8 months in a row.
The only drag on the industry in June continues to be the Chevrolet Volt, as sales were off 34% (1,777 vs 2,698) during the month. Overall for the year, the Chevy is off 13%, the only major production EV to show a loss.
Some points of interest for June EV sales:
New all-time monthly sales highs (previous high):
- Ford Fusion Energi-1,939 (1,342)
- BMW i3-358 (336)
- smart ED-278 (206)
- Cadillac ELR-97 (81)
Highest EV sales as a ratio to the brand:
- smart 278 EV sales (vs 392 petrol cars) - 41%
Top Selling Plug-In Manufacturers:
- Ford-3,124
- Nissan-2,347
- General Motors-1,959
- Tesla Motora-1,800 *(est)
- Toyota-1,662