Kirill Klip: Lithium Race: Electric Vehicle Sales In The US Rise By 66% To 14,882

Monday 5 September 2016

Lithium Race: Electric Vehicle Sales In The US Rise By 66% To 14,882 - Largest Amount Ever In August.

InsideEVs.

InsideEVs reports about the record sales of electric cars in the US in August 2016. We are entering the exponential part of the S curve. Sales of EVs in the US rise by 66% to 14,882 - the largest amount ever. Tesla Model S is leading the lithium race in the US with 3,125 sales. Chevy Volt is second with 2,081 and Tesla Model X is third with 1,850 cars sold! Nissan Leaf has fallen to the 5th place with 1,066 EVs sold. We can see the confirmation that people are ready to buy the best electric cars and ready to pay the premium for them like in case with Tesla Model X. Now we need the best electric cars, wich will be affordable to more people. Tesla Model 3 400,000 reservations are showing this trend. Hopefully, GM Bolt will find its buyer this Fall as well - we need now all electric cars we can get! Literally millions of them and very fast.

Now lets put it in the perspective of China with the largest market for electric cars in the world. There we have 25 companies now selling 51 models of electric cars and 200 companies developing ... 4,000 new models of EVs! Not all of them will be Teslas, but they are getting better very fast. InsideEVs reports that total of 93,197 EVs were sold in the US by September. We are up 29% y/y so far on top of 72,270 EVs sold last year by this time.

EV sales in China were up 188% in July from the last year! Total EV sales have broke 100,000 milestone with over 135,000 electric cars sold in China by the end of July 2016. As you can imagine, the center of our Lithium Universe is located now in China as well with new Chinese giants breaking into "The New Lithium Top5".

China Electric Car Sales Up 188%: Warren Buffett's BYD Dominates Lithium Race.

I would like to share today the great report from CleanTechnica on the lithium race in China. BYD backed by Warren Buffett is the solid leader in the largest market for electric cars in the world in China. BYD has become the largest manufacturer of EVs in the world in May of this year and now is breaking out of the rest of the New Energy EVs automakers with 4 of its electric cars among the 10 best-selling EVs in China in July.

"Klip said Tesla’s Nevada Gigafactory is generating excitement among all stakeholders in the lithium sector. But he added that “the real story of the lithium race is happening in China right now.”

“China became the largest auto market in the world for electric cars last year and (Hong Kong-based) BYD Company is now the biggest manufacturer of electric cars in the world this year,” Klip said, adding that Warren Buffett is a stakeholder.

“In China, they call battery power The New Energy, and it’s part of their current five-year plan. Twenty-five companies are making 51 models of electric cars in China already. A whole new strategic industry is being created from scratch. Ganfeng grew from $3 million dollars in sales in 2000 to $4.5 billion in market cap now.

“Security of lithium supply becomes the most important factor for the leaders to keep their dominant position in the fast-changing marketplace."

Lithium Market Small But Complex. Canadian Junior And Chinese Partner Taking Long View.

China's New Energy Plan: Joe Lowry's Food For Thought - Lithium Hydroxide Cash Cost Comparison.

Lithium Race: China’s Tech Giant LeEco To Invest $1.8 Billion To Build 400,000 Internet-connected Electric Cars A Year.

Ganfeng And International Lithium In EV Race: 25 Companies Are Making 51 Models Of Electric Cars In China Already.

Lithium Race: World’s Top 10 Selling Plug-In Electric Cars And Top 10 Manufacturers – May 2016.

InsideEVs.

InsideEVs:

Electric Vehicle Sales In The US Rise By Largest Amount Ever In August

Against a backdrop of some admittedly fairly woeful sales comps from 2015, plug-in electric car sales shot skyward in August, as new and updated offerings found a record number of homes on US driveways.

During the month, an estimated ~14,882 were sold, up 66% from the 8,972 moved in August of 2015.

Plug-In Luxury Has A New Champion In August – The BMW 740e

We should note that the trend of setting new monthly record highs in 2016 is not a new thing, as EV sales in the US have now set new highs in every month* this year.

However, the last 3 months have seen particularly strong sales improvements – July was up 50%, while June was up 45%.

By volume, the gain of 5,910 EV sales this month over August of 2015 was the largest increase on record.

Overall, 93,197 plug-ins have been sold, which is up 29%over the 72,270 moved last year.

With the current pace of recent sales, we expect that 2016 gain to close out the year much higher yet.

Leading the way, as it often as done year, was Tesla Motors – selling around 5,000 Model S and Model X all-electric vehicles by our estimate during the month. But we should note that August was also the first time in history that 6 different automakers delivered more than 1,000 vehicles in the same month.

The Model S was the top selling all-electric car in August with ~3,125 sales, while the Chevrolet Volt finished on top of the extended range (PHEV) vehicles, with just over 2,000 sales. The two plug-ins have traded places several times in 2016 for the top monthly sales spot, with each being the “top dog” 4 times.

The surprise hit for August? Has to be the BMW X5 xDrive40e (or X5 plug-in, if you will), which sold an all-time best 876 copies. You can almost hear the US population screaming “we want more plug-in utility vehicles!”

While we still wait on “big name” offerings and upgrades to arrive this year – the Toyota Prius Prime, Hyundai IONIQ Electric (BEV), 2017 BMW i3 (94 Ah/33 kWh edition), Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid, Tesla P100DL S & X (details), the field of available EVs did expand by one in August, as the BMW 740e (details) just started to land at US dealers late in the month.