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Plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) which include all-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles were available in nine different vehicle classes in 2015. There were a total of about 114,000 PEV sold in 2015 with 60% of those midsize or large cars, such as the Nissan Leaf and the Tesla Model S. Compact and subcompact vehicles accounted for about one-third of plug-in vehicle sales while all other size classes combined had sales of just 7%. As the number of PEV models in the market has increased from four* to twenty-nine, sales of PEVs have increased more than six-fold from 2011 to 2015.
PEV Sales by Size Class, 2011-2015
* The four models that were available in 2011 were the Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Volt, Mitsubishi iMiEV, and Smart ED.
| Vehicle Size Class | Make/Model |
|---|---|
| Two-seater | Smart ED |
| Minicompact | Fiat 500E |
| Subcompact | Mitsubishi iMiEV BMW Active E Chevrolet Spark Cadillac ELR BMW i3 BMW i8 |
| Compact | Chevrolet Volt Ford Focus VW e-Golf Audi A3 Plug In |
| Midsize | Nissan Leaf Prius PHEV Ford C-Max Energi Honda Accord Ford Fusion Energi Mercedes B-Class Hyundai Sonata Plug In |
| Large | Tesla Model S Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid Mercedes S550 Plug |
| Small Wagon | Honda Fit EV Kia Soul EV |
| Small SUV | Toyota RAV4 EV |
| Standard SUV | Porsche Cayenne S E-hybrid Volvo-XC90 Plug In Tesla Model X BMW X5 |
Supporting Information
| Calendar Year | Two-seater | Mini-compact | Sub-compact | Compact | Midsize | Large | Small Wagon | Small SUV | Standard SUV | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 342 | 0 | 76 | 7,671 | 9,674 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17,763 |
| 2012 | 139 | 0 | 1,259 | 24,144 | 24,942 | 2,400 | 93 | 192 | 0 | 53,169 |
| 2013 | 923 | 260 | 1,595 | 24,832 | 48,467 | 19,451 | 569 | 1,005 | 0 | 97,102 |
| 2014 | 2,594 | 1,503 | 9,298 | 21,126 | 64,670 | 17,629 | 766 | 1,184 | 112 | 118,882 |
| 2015 | 1,387 | 3,477 | 17,057 | 21,207 | 40,786 | 26,725 | 1,017 | 18 | 2,349 | 114,023 |
Source: Argonne National Laboratory, Light Duty Electric Drive Vehicles Monthly Sales Updates. | ||||||||||