About 1,000 plug-in electric cars were sold every day (on average)

The year 2018 is behind us. It was a great year for plug-in electric car sales in the U.S. and also ended perfectly with an all-time record of about 49,900 sales in December (up 91% year-over-year) at a decent 3% market share.

We can be very happy from the progress, as every single month was better compared to the previous year, the market share is getting noticeable and the perspectives are good. Let’s see how the sales results look on the graphs.

U.S. Plug-In Car Sales – December 2018

Total sales for the year 2018 amounted about 361,307 (estimated exclusively by IEVs), which is 80.8% more than a year ago. The average market share almost doubled to 2.1%.

In the case of models rank, we can just repeat: the Tesla Model 3 totally dominated 2018 sales and was the first electric car to exceed 100,000 sales in a year.

Almost 140,000 sales in U.S. (plus thousands in Canada) makes the Model 3 the best selling car globally. Tesla took three places in the top 4 and wasn’t that far taking the top three.

The short bars for other models raises the question of what the automotive industry will do to compete with Tesla.

Here is the car that turned out to be most popular with about 38.7% share of the total U.S. plug-in electric car market.

Some of our readers were waiting for the updated LOL chart and here it is. The Tesla Model 3 is going up like there is no tomorrow. Probably we are just weeks from seeing Model 3 on top of the cumulative sales chart, despite it being the youngest model in Top 10.

Year 2018 seems to be the most successful in history as the growth returned to a level seen only in the early beginning in 2012 or 2013.

And here we are with more than 1.1 million plug-in electric cars sold since December 2010.

In 2019, we expect more than 500,000 to be added with ease.

Source: Electric Vehicle News

The promoter of Formula 1’s Russian Grand Prix is aiming to hold an ABB FIA Formula E race in Saint Petersburg in 2020.

Source: Electric Vehicle News

While the Fremont Police Dept. has adopted some F-150s, its new Tesla Model S patrol car is sure to make an impact.

We’ve said all along that government agencies should be racing to buy EVs for an abundance of reasons. They’re fast, reliable, cheap to fuel, and environmentally friendly. With the current U.S. administration in place, we doubt this will become a real trend, at least for now. Nonetheless, we’ve seen and shared several instances in which municipal organizations across the globe have added electric vehicles to their arsenal. Now, long after we anticipated, the Fremont Police Department has adopted a Tesla Model S.

The Fremont Police Department was smart in terms of its budget. It didn’t pony up the big bucks for a brand-new Tesla. Instead, it took ownership of a 2014 Tesla Model S. This is partly due to the fact that it also plans to spend extra on several necessary upgrades. In the end, the used Model S, plus its upgrades will cost the agency about $65,000. According to SFGate, the department plans to add “a partition cage, sirens and lights, push bumper, ballistic barriers, equipment console and more.”

A recent press release quoted Fremont Police Captain Sean Washington. He said that this new acquisition is just one of many upcoming Fremont initiatives to adopt and utilize clean energy. He shared (via SFGate):

Given that Fremont Police vehicle fleet is responsible for a total of 980 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, this program has the potential to eliminate 10 percent of all municipal greenhouse gas emissions.

In Comparison

Fremont PD’s Ford Explorers ($32,365 base MSRP) cost about $40k to modify. On top of that, the department spends as much as $32,000 to gas them up over five years. Moreover, maintenance adds some $15,000 over that course of time. Crunching these numbers strongly suggests that a used Tesla will be less of a financial burden overall. On top this, even when buying a Tesla used, the department assumes the EV will have a longer active lifespan than that of most traditional ICE vehicles.

Hopefully, the used Model S will work out well for the agency, and Fremont, as well as other police departments will move forward with similar investments. This only makes sense since the city of Fremont intends to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by some 25 percent by 2020, as compared to its initial study of emissions in 2005.

If you’re interested in obtaining a used Tesla Model S, check out our sister site, MYEV.com.

Source: SFGate

Source: Electric Vehicle News

The workers are shifting to different divisions to focus on machine learning.

Apple reportedly ended its plans to build a car in 2016, but the tech giant kept the automotive project alive with a focus on autonomous motoring. The company has now removed more than 200 people from the self-driving tech team, according to Automotive News Europe citing a CNBC report. These employees remain at Apple but are working in different divisions within the firm.

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“We have an incredibly talented team working on autonomous systems and associated technologies at Apple,” a company spokesperson told CNBC. “As the team focuses their work on several key areas for 2019, some groups are being moved to projects in other parts of the company, where they will support machine learning and other initiatives, across all of Apple.”

After canceling the car program, Apple turned its focus to developing autonomous tech, including getting permission to test the system on public roads in California. The tech company has reportedly been working with Bosch and Volkswagen on the project. Spy shots showed Apple developing the system in a Lexus RX450h that the engineers modified to take emergency control from the backseat using a Logitech video game steering wheel and pedals.

The project with Volkswagen could actually bring a handful of autonomous vehicles to the road. The two companies reportedly plan to use an overhauled version of the Transporter van with modifications making the machine capable of driving itself. Italdesign would reportedly make extensive modifications to make room for all of the necessary electronics for the sensors and converting the powertrain to be electric. These Transporters would serve as shuttles for Apple employees traveling between the company’s campuses in Silicon Valley.

Source: Automotive News Europe

Source: Electric Vehicle News

The end of the muscle car is near… or is it?

Source: Electric Vehicle News