EVs Reach One Million Sold Worldwide

Despite remarkably low gas prices – the biggest disincentive to electric vehicle purchases – EV sales are continuing to ramp up in the U.S. and globally. The global number just surpassed one million units last month.

As of August 2015 about 985,000 units had been sold worldwide, not including Japanese sales numbers which were not reported yet. That number jumped to an estimated 1,004,000 PEVs though the middle of this month, according to HybridCars.com. The breakdown is about 62 percent battery electric and 38 percent plug-in hybrids.

The U.S. accounts for more than a third of those sales, while China and Japan make up about fifteen percent and twelve percent, respectively. The surprising country holding down the fourth spot? Norway. The Scandinavian country boasts 66,000 plug-in vehicles sold there. The Netherlands rounds out the top five, according to the site.

The top ten selling EVs globally, which account for more than 93 percent of the sales, include:

    Nissan Leaf (200,00)
    Chevy Volt (100,000)
    Tesla Model S (85,000)
    Toyota Prius (74,000)
    Mitsubishi Outland PHV (70,000)
    Mitsubishi i-MIEV (50,000)
    BYD Qin (38,900)
    BMW i3 (31,600)
    Renault Zoe (31,400)
    Ford Fusion Energi (24,100)

However, the biggest thing to note is not the total number, but the number sold in the last 14 months, which is about half of the total. Driven by growing sales of the Nissan Leaf and the Chevrolet Volt, which account for twenty percent and ten percent of the 500,000 units sold during that time, sales of EVs got to one million faster than hybrids (the non-plug variety).

It helps that there are a growing number of options across the pricing spectrum ranging from the Tesla Model S, which can top $100,000, to the Kia Soul, which can be had for under $20,000.