Plug-In Electric Car Sales In Feb: Cold-Weather Doldrums Continue: FINAL UPDATEPlug-In Electric Car Sales In Feb: Cold-Weather Doldrums Continue: FINAL UPDATE

Winter is always a slower sales time for plug-in electric cars than the warmer months, and last month looks like it won’t be any exception.
Sales of most of the highest-selling battery-electric and plug-in hybrid models stayed roughly at levels similar to those of January.
While a blockbuster December led to a new total of about 118,500 plug-in cars sold last year, a new sales surge may have to wait a few more months.
DON’T MISS: Plug-In Electric Car Sales Continue Rise In 2014, To 118,500
In February, 1,198 Nissan Leafs were delivered–12 percent higher than January’s 1,070, the lowest number of Leafs that had been delivered in almost two years.
Still, last month’s sales bring the total number of Leafs delivered in the U.S. to 74,590.
The Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car remains on a protracted runout for the current model before an all-new 2016 Volt goes on sale in the second half of this year.
2015 Chevrolet Volt
Just 693 Volts were sold in February, better than January’s 542, which was the lowest monthly Volt total in more than two years.
That brings the total number of Volts delivered in the U.S. since December 2010 to 74,592–meaning that next month, it will almost surely lose the highest-total-sales crown that it’s held for two and a half years.
BMW back over 1,000
Sales numbers for the BMW i3 battery-electric car, with its optional range-extending REx engine, returned to four-figure levels.
In February, BMW delivered 1,089 i3 cars–that’s the combined total for both versions–which was its second-highest monthly total since it went on sale last May.
The company has now sold 7,850 i3s, and another 750 i8 gull-wing plug-in hybrid sports coupes on top of that, with the i8 logging another 113 deliveries last month.
ALSO SEE: Plug-In Electric Car Sales For Canada In 2014: Steady Growth
As always, Tesla Motors refuses to report monthly sales, so we don’t know how many Model S electric sport sedans were sold.
The company’s lower-than-expected fourth-quarter results, announced last month, have led financial analysts to dive into the company’s balance sheet.
Tesla Model S electric-car road trip, charging at Orchard Inn, Saluda, NC [photo: David Noland]
Some have concluded that Tesla is now building cars to stock at its U.S. outlets, as well as building them specifically to customer order.
The company’s continuing opacity in reporting operating metrics, however, makes any such speculation difficult to verify.
We also do not have reported numbers for the Fiat 500e or Kia Soul EV.
Plug-in hybrids
Now that carpool-lane stickers in California are largely gone for plug-in hybrids, the number of plug-in Toyota Prius sales continues to remain at rock-bottom levels.
Toyota delivered 397 Prius Plug-In Hybrids in February, less than January’s 401 and the second-lowest monthly number since it went on sale in February 2012.
The current 2015 Prius Liftback model and its plug-in hybrid sibling will be replaced with an all-new model that’s expected to debut this fall.
2015 Ford C-Max Energi
Ford delivered 498 C-Max Energi compact hatchback plug-in hybrids, and 603 Fusion Energi mid-size sedans.
Along with its sales of 145 Focus Electrics, that made Ford the top-ranking plug-in vehicle seller for February–putting it ahead of BMW, General Motors, and Nissan.
Honda Accord Plug-In Hybrid sales plummeted to just 12 units, its lowest number in fully two years. Only 1,105 plug-in hybrid Accords have been sold over that time.
Low-volume and compliance cars
After those models come roughly a dozen low-volume plug-in electric vehicles.
Those span the gamut among pricier luxury brands, compliance cars built only to necessary volumes to meet California zero-emission vehicle rules, and a handful that sell in low numbers for other reasons.

BMW i3 and Volkswagen e-Golf electric cars using Combined Charging System (CCS) DC fast charging
Volkswagen sold 130 of its VW e-Golf battery-electric hatchback, bringing the total since it went on sale in October to 668.
Sales of the Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive, however, which were at 240 in January, fell by more than half to just 109 last month.
Mercedes has now sold 1,123 of its compact battery-electric hatchback since it went on sale last July.
Cadillac sold 127 ELR range-extended electric luxury coupes, but that still brings its total sales since December 2013 to 1,535–far from the 5,000 or more Cadillac had hoped to sell.
MORE: Plug-In Electric Car Sales For 2013 Near Double Previous Year’s (Jan 2014)
Other low-volume cars include the pair of plug-in hybrid Porsches (the newer Cayenne sport-utility vehicle and Panamera large sedan), which have been selling well given their high prices.
Porsche delivered 71 plug-in Cayenne S E-Hybrid SUVs, and 40 of the plug-in Panamera S E-Hybrid sedan. Since each went on sale, their totals are 237 and 1,025 respectively.
But sales of the Smart ForTwo Electric Drive fell to just 76 units, the first time that car has seen monthly sales under 100 since January 2014.
2015 Smart Fortwo Electric Drive
Whle an all-new Smart ForTwo is likely to be launched in the U.S. for 2016, the electric version hasn’t yet been unveiled–so an updated electric Smart is likely up to two years away.
There’s also the hapless Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric minicar–which nonetheless has 2016 models going on sale this month. Exactly two were delivered last month, down from the three sold in January.
Compliance cars
The so-called compliance cars have all but lost two of their members, as both the Honda Fit EV and the Toyota RAV4 EV have reached their announced sales limits: 1,100 and 2,600 respectively.
No Fit EVs were sold in either January or February, while Toyota delivered just 7 and 2 RAV4 EVs in those months–bringing the totals for the two cars to 1,069 and 2,481 respectively.
Chevrolet delivered 119 Spark EVs, and as always, Fiat Chrysler refuses to break out sales of the Fiat 500e electric car from its total 500 model sales.
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