Wow you can see why Tesla is so valuable. I had no idea. The i3 is actually doing pretty well which was surprising:
The Focus Electric has been an absolute sales dud for Ford, although not nearly as bad as the Cadillac ELR. Through September of 2014, Ford only managed to sell 1,534 Focus Electric EVs. Even BMW’s more expensive i3 EV ($41,350 MSRP) managed to outsell it, with 3,104 units sold in just its first five months of availability according to Inside EVs.
Even more embarrassing is that the much more expensive Tesla Model S raked in sales of 11,000 units through September 2014.
However, the U.S. sales king for electric vehicles continues to be the Nissan Leaf. The Leaf, which has an MSRP of $28,890, has racked up sales of 21,822 units so far this year.
And, Tesla is aiming for a $40K car selling 500K units and go 200 miles and GM wants to do the same in two year:
The upcoming Sonic EV, which will be based on the current generation gasoline-engine Sonic, will debut in 2017 and will have a driving range of 200 miles.
GM Global Product Chief Mark Reuss confirmed the news last week, and Automotive News was able to corroborate that the Sonic would form the basis of the new EV. This latest confirmation of a 200-mile EV from GM should come as no surprise, as former GM CEO Dan Akerson stated in March 2013 that “breakthroughs in battery technology” would allow the company to release an EV with a 200-mile range.
GM has already made improvements to the battery pack housed within its Chevrolet Spark EV. The company’s in-house design time redesigned the battery pack using LG Chem cells, reducing the weight of the pack by 86 pounds compared to the original pack that used cells from A123 Systems. Even though storage capacity dropped from 21 kWh to 19 kWh, GM was able to maintain the Spark EV’s battery range of 82 miles.
2014 Chevrolet Sonic Hatchback
Other auto manufacturers are making slow and steady progress when it comes to the development of electric vehicles (EVs) and the batteries that power them. Tesla Motors is setting up its new Gigafactory in Nevada, which will pump out enough batteries to power 500,000 Tesla EVs by the year 2020. A fully functional Gigafactory is crucial to reducing lithium-ion battery costs, which will help to make the Model III a reality. Tesla has stated that the Model III will be priced at less than $40,000 and will have a range of over 200 miles.
