Plug-In Electric Autos Left Behind in Record U.S. Year
Deliveries of electric-drive models slid 17%, Autodata says
Gasoline prices falling to about $2 a gallon crimp demand
Persuading car buyers to choose electric got more difficult as gasoline slid to $2 a gallon by the end of last year. The average U.S. retail gas price for the full year was $2.40 a gallon, down from $3.34 in 2014, according to AAA. Add to that starting prices such as $29,010 for the Leaf, a small car, and even with government incentives such as a $7,500 federal tax credit, winning over customers can be difficult.
...BMW sold 11,024 of its electric i3s in the U.S. in 2015, the model’s first full year of sales. Sales averaged 919 a month, a 21 percent increase from the previous year.
That’s an indication that luxury electric autos such as the i3 and Tesla Motors Inc.’s Model S sedan can expand sales.
Tesla, which sells only electric autos and in September began deliveries of the Model X sport utility vehicle, reported global deliveries of 50,580 vehicles for 2015, a 60 percent increase. The company doesn’t break out figures by country...
During an industry conference in Michigan last August, Forrest McConnell, president of a Honda dealership in Montgomery, Alabama, and a former chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association, described the dilemma for automotive retailers by holding up a donut and broccoli as symbols of consumer choice.
If electric vehicles are broccoli, McConnell said, donuts represent cars and trucks powered by internal combustion engines, the overwhelming choice of buyers.