Dive Brief:
- Sales of electric vehicles jumped by more than a third in 2016, reversing a slight decline in sales that showed up in 2015, according to new data from Inside EVs.
- United States consumers purchased almost 25,000 EVs in December, a hefty new monthly sales record driven in part by Tesla Model S and Model X deliveries that had been pushed back from previous months, according to the Sierra Club.
- Almost 160,000 electric vehicles were sold in 2016, up from about 116,000 in 2015 and 122,000 in 2014. Worldwide sales exceeded 750,000 last year, up from 550,000 the year before.
Dive Insight:
After some concern over slowing EV sales in 2015, consumers last year appeared to show they are ready to embrace electric transportation options.
According to Inside EVs, sales of electric vehicles were up 37% last year over 2015, and even by an even greater amount in the second half, a stark increase after sales declined 5% from 2014 to 2015. The strength was partly driven by a record-setting December, when sales reached 24,785.
This year "brings new found optimism for plug-in electric vehicle sales in the US, as 2016 showed marked monthly improvements during each month of the year," Inside EVs wrote. January sales were estimated at more than 10,000 plug-in vehicles sold,a 70% increase over the previous period in 2016.
Some utilities are pushing for consumers to make the switch, seeing it both as a way to address greenhouse gas emissions as well as boost their load and possible infrastructure. A few electric utilities, most recently in Hawaii, offered rebates as high as $10,000 for Nissan Leaf EVs, making a significant dent in the new purchase price, particularly when paired with other incentives. California's three investor-owned utilities last month proposed spending $1 billion on electric vehicle infrastructure.
