Here’s how things shook out in May, 2014:
The Chevrolet Volt had a 9% increase in sales over the previous month (1,684 vs. 1,548) and a 5% increase in sales volume over May of the previous year (1,684 vs. 1,608). June of 2013 had a huge increase in units sold, so let’s see what happens this month. There have been tons of rumors about the next generation Volt, which will be the 2016 model year, and that may be keeping Volt fans from buying in a wait-and-see attitude. I saw this phenomenon with iPhones, iPads and new Macs when I worked at Apple.
The Nissan Leaf showed a 49% increase in sales over the previous month (3,117 vs. 2,088)!!! When compared to the same month a year ago, it was still a hefty 46% increase in sales. Nissan must be doing something right, but for the life of me, I’m not sure what it is. I haven’t noticed very many television ads for the Leaf (and virtually none for the Volt) except a MetLife ad that mentioned GM employees benefitting from their medical insurance (and had a Volt on screen.) **UPDATE** I stand corrected.
The Plug-in Prius also showed a huge leap forward with a 55% increase in units sold over the previous month (2,692 vs. 1,741) and a whopping 297% increase over May 2013! (2,692 vs. 678) This makes two months in a row that the Plug-in Prius has bested the Volt. GM: there’s this new thing called advertising…
As usual, Tesla did not announce sales figures for the previous month, but there are rumors that their sales had declined slightly.
The Cadillac ELR posted a decline in sales of 15%, when compared to the previous month (52 vs. 61). The ELR has been available less than a year. (more on the ELR later in this post)
The BMW i3, in their first month of availability in the U.S. posted sales of 336 units. This compares well to the first month of Volt sales back in December 2010 of 326 Volts. That being said, there was news that the i3’s sales were hindered by a U.S. Customs snag. Of course, their sales have undoubtedly been helped by the pioneers that came three years before, growing public awareness of EV benefits over that period. (I’m looking at you Volt & Leaf…)
Finally, our benchmark ICE vehicle, the Chevrolet Corvette posted a slight 5% decline in sales, when compared to the previous month (3,328 vs. 3,514) but a huge 268% increase over the previous March, probably caused by two factors 1) last year everyone was surely holding off purchasing due to the news about the new C7 version of the Corvette and 2) this year’s constraint on the Z51 performance package. Dealerships are still having a hard time keeping the Stingray in stock. Most are sold before reaching the dealers.
Now for the graphs:
As you can see on the upper graph, the Volt (green) lost the lead in sales volume in the 42nd month of availability to the historic performance of the original Prius (black), which showed a strong uptick, starting in the 41st month of its availability. The Leaf (blue) is slowly but surely closing the gap between it and the Volt and original Prius. The Plug-in Prius (pink), after starting off faster than any previous plug in electric for the first 15 months of availability, has started to close the gap with the two leaders, Volt and original Prius). Finally, the ELR is struggling, even with very nice incentives from GM. Part of this, I am certain, has to do with the ELR’s price appearing to be about the same as the Tesla Model S. This is unfortunate for GM and I’m surprised that they apparently didn’t see this coming.
This week, I was a bit late getting the numbers to you. It’s been a busy week that included me taking a couple Volts to the International Parking Institute’s “Greening the Garage” gathering at the Gaylord Hotel in Grapevine, Texas. IPI hosted a couple meetings in the Gaylord’s parking garage where select vendors (including yours truly) were able to show their products and speak to those attending. The only EVs present were the two Volts I brought and a Cadillac ELR. The ELR was brought by a GM Fleet Account Executive, Rick Maybury. He was gracious enough to let me test drive the ELR, which was the first time I had an opportunity to do so.
I was very, very impressed by the ELR. Rick also brought to my attention the fallacy of a straight-up comparison between the ELR and the Model S. The ELR has many standard features that are optional (i.e. an extra cost) on the Model S. These include (according to a GM presentation):
- Leather seats
- Navigation & Homelink (garage door opener)
- Seat & mirror memory settings
- Keyless access
- Expanded leather trim (I’m not sure what this means, either…)
- Premium interior lighting
- Premium audio
- Sueded microfiber headliner
- Parking sensors
The same GM presentation that mentions the optional costs on the Model S also shows a list of options unavailable on the Model S that are standard on the ELR, such as:
- Forward collision alert
- Lane departure warning
- Front and rear park assist
- “Rainsense” wipers
- Safety alert seat
- OnStar (with turn-by-turn directions)
- “Cadillac concierge” (again, I don’t know what this is…)
- Heated steering wheel
- Adjustable suspension
- Adaptive cruise control
- Side blind zone alert
- Rear cross-traffic alert
The ELR, although it shares its drivetrain with the Volt, is not just a “gussied-up” Volt. It has many refinements both in performance and information presented to the driver. For instance, Sport Mode in the ELR, not only remaps the accelerator, it modifies the suspension settings and tightens up the steering (an advantage of going to an electric power steering system). The ELR has something, on the back side of the steering wheel, that feels like paddle shifters, which are actually a way to increase regen when slowing. It has quite a pronounced effect and definitely captures more energy than a Volt (and yes, it has the “L” setting on the shifter that works like it does on the Volt). The driver’s information display also shows a constantly updated readout of energy use, similar to an current MPG display on many ICE vehicles. This readout also shows the energy being captured during regen which makes the advantage of those steering wheel paddles obvious. I’m going to have to do a video test drive of an ELR soon…
Have a great June everyone and help keep the revolution going. Tell all your friends how great your favorite EV is!!!
