After setting a record for the sale of the most electric vehicles in a month's time, during May 2014, the Nissan Leaf kept up its pace and its healthy lead ahead of Chevy's Volt in June sales figures.
The auto industry, at large, had a healthy June 2014, with automakers, such as Nissan and Toyota, showing marked increases in sales when compared to June 2013. Nissan's Leaf has been on the rise since October of 2013, we it reportedly emerged as the EV sales leader, while sales of the Volt have been plateaued.
Nissan was said to have moved 2,347 Leafs in June 2014, totaling 12,736 sold since the start of 2014. Chevy sold 1,777 of its Volt cars during June 2014, bringing its total number of units moved to 8,615 on the year.
Toby Perry, director of EV sales and marketing for Nissan, said sales of the Leaf in Texas have risen, after the state offered a $2,500 rebate to anyone who purchased an EV or leased one for term of at least four years.
"Since the Texas state incentive went into effect in May, we've seen a big jump in Leaf sales in the Austin, Dallas and Houston markets. Our dealers are telling us that they saw more traffic in their stores, and they had their best Leaf sales performance in the last weekend in June," he said.
If the market for EVs and hybrids cars is to expand even further, it'll come on the backs of more plug-in locations. In a December 2013 survey conducted by Consumer Reports, the organization found the majority of their 914 public sample of eligible drivers, those whose daily routines fit into the range of EV cars, didn't have reliable access to charging locations for Evs.
"We found that even though most drivers don't need to travel farther than a pure electric car can go on a charge, many can't take full advantage of a plug-in hybrid car (which uses a gas engine as a backup generator once the charge runs out) because they have no place to routinely plug it in. Only 52 percent of respondents said they had access to at least an electrical outlet where they park at home." the report stated.
While the availability of charging locations remains a hurdle, Tesla, the EV manufacturer that edged Chevy out for second place in June, announced on June 12 that it intended to share its patented EV technology with other automakers.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, said his company has moved beyond fears that larger automaker would copy his company's technology, and now wants to license the company's EV technology to other auto manufacturers in an effort to push the development of EVs forward.
