Electric vehicles (EVs) are riding a strong surge in sales, despite relatively low gasoline prices.
Total EV sales were up about 37% in 2016, according to InsideEVs.com. U.S. sales of plug-in EVs jumped more than 70% in January 2017 year over year. If each month of 2017 replicated this growth rate, the year could end with sales of 271,000 EVs, a 70% increase from 2016.
Top sellers include the Chevrolet Volt, which saw a 62% boost in January sales; the Toyota Prius Prime; and the new Chevrolet Bolt EV, 1,100 of which were sold in its first full month available. Tesla’s Model S came in fourth with 900 EVs sold.
Worldwide, EV sales reached a record 103,000 deliveries in December 2016, or up 20% year over year, according to figures from the blog EV Sales. The Nissan Leaf was the bestselling EV in 2016, with the Tesla Model S sedan coming in second.
That said, EV growth is coming off a very small base, or less than 1% of new vehicles sold in the United States. However, forecasts from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) expect EVs to make up 8% of the market by 2025.
U.S. miles driven in November 2016 rose 4.3% vs. November 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration. Regionally, the greatest growth in miles driven was in the West (up 6.8%), with the slowest growth in the Northeast (up 1.8%).
Light-duty-vehicle sales fell 1.8% in January 2017 vs. a year ago, weighed down by a more than 12% drop in passenger-car sales. Light-duty-truck sales, meanwhile, rose just less than 6%.
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