Are hybrid and electric vehicles losing their juice in California, far and away the nation’s leading market for those auto segments?
On the surface, the answer is yes. Up the road, experts believe that electric vehicles in particular are due to take off.
“Sales of alternative-powered vehicles have not kept pace with the rest of the new vehicle market,” the Sacramento-based California New Car Dealers Association noted in its recently released report on statewide new motor vehicle registrations recorded in the first half of 2016.
Through six months this year, CNCDA said sales of new, conventional hybrids accounted for about 4.5 percent of all new-vehicle sales statewide. That’s down from nearly 7 percent in 2013. The CNCDA report showed that California sales of new, plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles (EVs for short) have remained basically flat since 2014, with each segment accounting for about 1.5 percent of all new-vehicle registrations statewide. Between 2010 and 2014, plug-in and EV sales were rising.
That might not seem like cause for alarm, considering that overall new-vehicle registrations statewide in the first half of 2016 totaled more than 1.04 million. The CNCDA is projecting 2.1 million registrations by the end of this year, which would approach the all-time record of 2.15 million set in 2005.
However, the recent hybrid/EV slump is significant in a state that has consistently led the nation touting the virtues of alternative-powered vehicles, a state where Gov. Jerry Brown has set a goal of putting 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2025.
What’s going on? Industry experts cite multiple factors affecting sales of hybrids and electrics in California.
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