Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA) became the largest seller of electric vehicles (EVs) in the United States in 2015. Tesla beat out other auto manufacturers such as Nissan (NSANY), Chevrolet, BMW, Toyota (TM) and Ford (F) to gain the crown. Tesla was also the biggest seller of EVs in the world in 2015 with sales of over 50,000 units. Elon Musk is the global face of the growing electric car company. We created the following chart showing how many electric cars were sold by manufacturer and model in the U.S. in 2015, as well as how many EVs were sold compared to gasoline vehicles.

Tesla

The top line of our chart shows that traditional gasoline cars still drastically outsell EVs in the U.S. There were 17.35 million gasoline cars sold in the U.S. versus only 116,548 EVs. Still, EVs are an increasingly important component of the auto industry as manufacturers are required to comply with federal emission regulations.

As can be seen from the chart, Tesla sold around 25,700 Model S cars. This compares with 17,300 vehicles sold in 2014. This represents an increase of 48% in sales for 2015.  2015 also represents the first year that Tesla becomes the best selling EV in USA. The Model S was the third best selling EV in 2014 behind the Nissan Leaf and the Chevrolet Volt. The Nissan Leaf was the second best selling EV with 17,269 cars sold in the U.S. in 2015. This was followed by the Chevrolet Volt in third with 15,393 cars sold. The BMW i3 came in fourth with 11,024 cars sold. In addition, Tesla sold 214 cars for the Tesla Model X.

The Tesla S is a well-designed vehicle by any measure. It won the 2013 Motor Trend Car of the Year, as well as earning the Car of The Century award from Car and Driver in 2015. Car and Driver note that the P90D performance model can hit 60 mph in just 2.8 seconds. The EPA gives the Model S 70D a range of 240 miles, although that performance is variable.

The Tesla Model S is selling quite well despite the high price tag. It costs around $63,700 after the tax credit. This is about $40,000 more than the Nissan Leaf with a cost of $22,360 after the tax credit. The Chevrolet Volt also has a more affordable price tag of $22,300. The Tesla Model X costs around $86,700 after the tax credit.

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