Electric car sales rising steadily http://www.equities.com/news/headline-story?dt=2012-12-25&val=861103&cat=industrial Sales of electric cars double as new models come online by Adam Vaughan, Guardian [2012-12-25]
Electric cars picked up some speed in 2012, with sales almost doubling for the first nine months, before the arrival of a new generation of models by BMW, Ford and Tesla Motors in the new year - though electric cars still account for a marginal proportion of the UK market. The acceleration outstripped growth in the wider car industry, which saw a sales increase of 5.4% in 2012 year on year . The encouraging gains follow a pounds 5,000 government grant launched in January 2011. Seen as crucial to meeting the government's climate targets, electric cars are still just a fraction of the market. Only 1,419 were registered in the first three quarters, up from 786 for the same period in 2011. With a range of around 100 miles, they cost around a quarter of what a conventional petrol or diesel car costs to run. Transport minister Norman Baker said: "We are seeing sales gather pace. The number of claims for our plug-in car grant this year is well up on last year's figure and we expect this to increase as more electric cars come to market, including the Nissan Leaf, which will start production in Sunderland next year. I know electric vehicles have got a bright future in this country." Uptake may have been boosted by three new models this year, including the pounds 28,245 Toyota Prius Plug-In, Vauxhall's pounds 29,995 Ampera, and the Renault Fluence ZE, which comes in at a cheaper pounds 17,495 due to buyers not owning the battery but paying a monthly hire fee. All prices include the government grant. They will be joined by a slew of new models in 2013, including from Ford and BMW. In the second half of the year, an electric version of the Ford Focus, the UK's most popular car, will go on sale. BMW will turn its concept i3 into a production car, and has a larger electric car, the i8, slated for 2014. Although prices for both are as yet unannounced, they are likely to be undercut by Renault's pounds 13,650 Zoe, which will come with a pounds 70 monthly battery hire fee. At the other end of the scale will be Tesla Motors' Model S - the US electric sportscar manufacturer's "affordable" model - which has been priced at euros 60,000 for Europe but can manage 230 miles between charges. UK pricing will be confirmed later, with deliveries next summer. Marc Rinkel, an analyst at IHS Automotive, cautioned against overplaying the electric car sector: "As new models enter the market, the 'invisibility' of charging points in London needs to be tackled." [© 2012 equities.com All Rights Reserved.] http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/article/Electric-car-sales-rising-steadily-4143761.php Electric car sales rising steadily ... http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/In-Gear/2012/1228/Hybrid-and-electric-car-sales-jump-73-percent-in-2012 Electric and hybrid car sales jump 73% in 2012 For all EVLN posts use: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/template/NamlServlet.jtp?macro=search_page&node=413529&query=evln&sort=date Here are today's archive-only posts: EVLN: Plugin curious Grade-7 Student Wants To Go To MIT EVLN: BYD exports three e6 EVs to Thailand EVLN: Electric Vehicle Encyclopedia EVLN: Foton tie-up with Daimler goes global + EVLN: AMP/Momentum JV > wireless e-delivery vehicles for BARTA {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-Sales-double-as-new-EV-models-come-online-tp4660275.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
