US Electric Car Sales Continues To Rise

(RTTNews) - Sales of plug-in electric cars in the U.S. for 2014 improved from a year ago, even as crude oil prices plunged to historic lows, according to reports.

According to Green Car Reports, sales of plug-in electric cars rose above 100,000 units in 2014, the third year-over-year sales increase since modern electric cars first went on sale in December 2010.

Nissan Leaf, the highest-selling electric car in the world, recorded sales of 30,200 units in 2014, compared to 22,610 units in 2013. Sales of Chevrolet Volt dropped to 18,805 units in 2014 from 23,461 units a year ago. However, the future of Chevy Volt seems to be bright with the launch of new model Chevy Volt 2016, scheduled to be launched later this month at the North American International Auto Show.

Nissan's Leaf and Chevrolet's Volt make up the majority of sales of plug-in electric cars in the US, as rest of the more than 20 different models record low-volume sales, about less than 250 units per month. Only a few electric car models report sales of more than 1,000 units every month.

According to Inside EVs, a news website that focuses mainly on electric cars, Tesla Inc. (TSLA) recorded sales of 3,500 for Model S luxury sedans in December, which is the best single month result for any electric car to date in the US. Sales of Nissan's Leaf for December were 3,102 units.

Sales of plug-in vehicles represent only a small portion of the total car sales in the US, about one percent of total light-duty vehicles sold. Nonetheless, despite plunging gas prices and aggressive marketing of gas vehicles, sales of plug-in electric cars continue to move upward.

The year 2015 will be an important one for the electric car industry considering the fact that gas prices are at historically low levels and almost all major automakers will be launching new electric car models.