Tesla Still On Top In US Electric Vehicle Sales, GM Close Behind (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Americans bought more electric vehicles in September than any other month this year. According to Inside EV's monthly sales report, 21,325 battery EVs and plug-in hybrid EVs found homes last month. That's 20 percent more than this time last year and the second highest number ever. 2017 looks like it will be a record year; a total of 159,614 EVs were sold, a figure that should easily be eclipsed by the end of October. Tesla leads the pack, thanks to healthy increases in both Model S and Model X sales this month. Tesla may suffer some good-natured teasing about frequently missed deadlines, but you could set your watch by the regularity of its quarter-ending jump in deliveries. Barring some unforeseen circumstance, the Model S will remain the best-selling EV for the third year running. Like the overall trend, sales for the startup EV maker are up compared to last year, and even if the Model 3 continues to frustrate, we expect it to break the 50,000 car barrier by year-end.

General Motors is the only other company within reach of Tesla, whether we're talking about range or sales volume. The Chevrolet Bolt EV is now on sale in all 50 states and finding traction -- 2,632 sold in September and more than 14,000 on the road in 2017 so far. That still only gets it to fifth overall on the score chart, and there are three months left to go. The Chevy Volt, the Bolt's plug-in hybrid EV stablemate, is still the second-most popular EV among American buyers, but its sales have leveled off for the last few months. Toyota is the only other OEM to make the top five, less than 300 units behind the Volt.

Comments

This is good.

[Gravis Zero]

Whenever Tesla is mentioned, it always brings out the financial trading guys who do nothing but praise or shit on the company because of their own money interests. I think it's important that everyone remember that the entire point of Tesla Motors was to show that electric vehicles were viable and to hopefully get the ball rolling with moving society to electric vehicles. The fact that other companies are being forced to throw their hat in the ring shows that there is a real demand for electric vehicles. Nothing is ever done perfectly on the first try (or generation of vehicles in this case) but we're progressing toward a sustainable automotive option which is extremely important. Yes, not all sources of electricity are sustainable but we're marking progress in that area too.

There is still hope, we can still salvage this planet before the ecosystem goes pear-shaped, even if we have to drag the people in denial, kicking and screaming with us.