PLUS: Toyota bZ4X tested, Fisker plans Ronin, and Mercedes preps more EV buses.
The Tesla Model 3 is by no means the newest electric sedan on the market, but it's still crushing its competition. Nearly five years after the Model 3 debuted, its popularity only appears to be growing, as Tesla has officially opened two new plants in just the past two months aimed mostly at Model 3 and Model Y production.
That's a trajectory that no other EV maker can currently point to, especially for a sedan that will be half a decade old this July.
What's even more astonishing is that despite the appearance of multiple EVs in several segments over the past few years from other automakers, Tesla still commands over 70% of the EV market stateside. That's a trend that should certainly worry Tesla's competitors, as they work through the chip shortage and other disruptions still affecting the auto industry.
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The Model Y and the Model 3 now account for the vast majority of Tesla sales, and the automaker's deliveries are still growing from quarter to quarter. |
This week we took a close look at estimates of Tesla sales, and compared them to sales of gas-engined cars in the same segments, using data from Kelley Blue Book and from Tesla itself.
The results may surprise you, but they should absolutely terrify other automakers, even looking at data from the first quarter of this year. Let's just say that the Model 3's gas-engined competitors are so far behind that the chip shortage and other production-related snafus can't account for their lukewarm level of sales.
The situation with the Model Y is equally troubling... for automakers with vehicles trying to compete with it.
Take a look at the full picture to see just how far ahead Tesla is in two crucial segments.
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The Ronin looks like a sedan in this teaser, but Henrik Fisker says it will be a four-door convertible. |
Speaking of the competition, Fisker is plotting nothing short of the longest-ranged EV four-door. Dubbed Ronin, as a nod to the classic vehicular mayhem docudrama from director John Frankenheimer, the new model that will be unveiled in 2023 wants to beat the Lucid Air's 520-mile range. "The aim is to achieve the world's longest range for a production EV, combined with extremely high levels of performance," CEO Henrik Fisker said. "Project Ronin will be a showcase for our internal engineering, powertrain, and software capabilities."
Fisker has shared a moody teaser image that some of our readers will recognize as yet another nod to the original Ronin film poster, showing a sleek four-door GT with prominent wheel arches and a relatively small cabin, suggesting a sequel to the Karma. But the Fisker Ronin will actually be a four-door convertible.
It certainly seems like a range war is brewing, but it's prudent to remember that Fisker has quite a bit on its plate at the moment—and has also missed a few deadlines along the way.
Read on, and let us know in the comments what you think about Fisker's plans.
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The number of EVs on the road may not have quintupled between 2020 and 2021, but the number of Electrify America charging sessions certainly did. Volkswagen's EV charging arm noted that its charging network saw a total of 1.45 million charging sessions in 2021, compared to just 268,000 in all of 2020. That's roughly a five-fold increase year to year. The charging network indicates that it dispensed 41.4 gigawatt-hours of energy in 2021, estimating that drivers covered some 145 million electric miles over the course of the year using its public chargers, while avoiding using some 5.7 million gallons of gasoline. |
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The automaker recently unveiled two closely related crossovers, setting its sights on a very busy segment that is seeing new arrivals almost every few months. Dubbed the Honda e:NS1 and the e:NP1, the two new electric crossovers are produced by two of Honda's joint ventures in China. The former is assembled by Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co., Ltd., while the latter is produced by GAC Honda Automobile Co., Ltd. And their prices are very tempting. |
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