Photo: Catalin Garmacea
An interesting report from InsideEVs claims that BMW sold just 816 i3s last month which is a drastic drop compared to the 1,159 units they sold in October, which was a record for the brand actually. So, what happened?
The EV market is definitely not taking a blow. The numbers say it loud and clear, as more than 97,509 plug-ins were sold by the time November reached its second week, overtaking the total recorded in 2013.
GM sold over 1,336 Chevrolet Volt models while the Nissan is still leading with 2,687 Leafs sold last month, an increase of 34% compared to a year ago. And yes, you might be tempted to say that the drop in petrol prices might take a toll on EV sales but that just didn’t happen, showing that people are expecting the prices to start rising again.
Cadillac sold just 155 ELRs in November and that’s understandable as the price tag is rather prohibitive in this case. However, it does record a slight increase over October, for example, when 152 of them were sold.
When it came to the i3, things went in a downward spiral, as you already read but the problem wasn’t demand but rather nature’s fury. You see, the carbon fiber used to make the CFRP the EV uses comes from Japan. That part of Asia in which Japan is also located was hit by a terrible typhoon not too long ago, rendering ships in the area unable to sail to the US.
Therefore, the Moses Lake plant that makes the lightweight material doesn’t have the raw materials it needs to keep the supply going for the Leipzig plant. That, in turn, led to a shortage of cars and now, owners are waiting for theirs to be delivered as the stocks proved insufficient.
However, that situation is bound to be solved soon enough and the number of i3s sold by the North American branch of BMW should start going up again.
GM sold over 1,336 Chevrolet Volt models while the Nissan is still leading with 2,687 Leafs sold last month, an increase of 34% compared to a year ago. And yes, you might be tempted to say that the drop in petrol prices might take a toll on EV sales but that just didn’t happen, showing that people are expecting the prices to start rising again.
Cadillac sold just 155 ELRs in November and that’s understandable as the price tag is rather prohibitive in this case. However, it does record a slight increase over October, for example, when 152 of them were sold.
When it came to the i3, things went in a downward spiral, as you already read but the problem wasn’t demand but rather nature’s fury. You see, the carbon fiber used to make the CFRP the EV uses comes from Japan. That part of Asia in which Japan is also located was hit by a terrible typhoon not too long ago, rendering ships in the area unable to sail to the US.
Therefore, the Moses Lake plant that makes the lightweight material doesn’t have the raw materials it needs to keep the supply going for the Leipzig plant. That, in turn, led to a shortage of cars and now, owners are waiting for theirs to be delivered as the stocks proved insufficient.
However, that situation is bound to be solved soon enough and the number of i3s sold by the North American branch of BMW should start going up again.
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