Photo: Tesla Motors
Great news for those who believe that electricity - be it on its own or as a support for an internal combustion engine - is the key to forward mobility: a milestone has been reached and things are looking brighter than ever.
Compared to the size of the global market and the total number of cars out there, one million cars isn't that much. To get an idea, in the US alone more than 1.5 million cars and light trucks are sold every month, so a one million figure over the whole course of history would be almost laughable, if we weren't talking about an alternative propulsion system.
Still, what should convince every eco-friendly person to drink their green smoothie in celebration is not the number itself, but the way this figure has evolved over the past few years.
Every change has a slow start, but plug-in vehicles sales had been nothing short of terrible at first. And they didn't seem to pick up that much speed, even though more and more manufacturers were starting to offer their own solutions.
But then came the summer of 2014, the point when plug-in vehicles sales finally took off. From then until now, over half of those one million cars were sold, making these last 14 months extremely prolific.
You will have noticed that we've used the term "plug-in vehicles", so that includes full-EVs as well as plug-in hybrids. Surprisingly enough (or maybe not), out of the total one million, 62 percent were battery-powered electrics, while the other 38 percent were plug-in hybrids. This only comes to show that people who embrace these alternative powertrains do it whole-heartedly and go for the more restrictive electric vehicles.
If we're to talk model-specifics, the clear best-seller is the Nissan Leaf, accounting for roughly 20 percent of total sales, followed by the Chevrolet Volt/Opel Ampera duo with 10%. On the next two spots are the most resounding names, the Tesla Model S and the Prius Plug-in.
With more models on the way and almost every hybrid now being a plug-in version, this number has no other way to go than up, and no other way of doing it than extremely quickly. So if you ever thought of going into the business of making electric power, now's the time.
Still, what should convince every eco-friendly person to drink their green smoothie in celebration is not the number itself, but the way this figure has evolved over the past few years.
Every change has a slow start, but plug-in vehicles sales had been nothing short of terrible at first. And they didn't seem to pick up that much speed, even though more and more manufacturers were starting to offer their own solutions.
But then came the summer of 2014, the point when plug-in vehicles sales finally took off. From then until now, over half of those one million cars were sold, making these last 14 months extremely prolific.
You will have noticed that we've used the term "plug-in vehicles", so that includes full-EVs as well as plug-in hybrids. Surprisingly enough (or maybe not), out of the total one million, 62 percent were battery-powered electrics, while the other 38 percent were plug-in hybrids. This only comes to show that people who embrace these alternative powertrains do it whole-heartedly and go for the more restrictive electric vehicles.
If we're to talk model-specifics, the clear best-seller is the Nissan Leaf, accounting for roughly 20 percent of total sales, followed by the Chevrolet Volt/Opel Ampera duo with 10%. On the next two spots are the most resounding names, the Tesla Model S and the Prius Plug-in.
With more models on the way and almost every hybrid now being a plug-in version, this number has no other way to go than up, and no other way of doing it than extremely quickly. So if you ever thought of going into the business of making electric power, now's the time.
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