Time to trade the Nissan Leaf for the Escalade? ‘Not so fast!’ says Carlypso
SAN CARLOS, CA. – Experts feared that U.S. electrical vehicle sales could take a hit when oil prices south of the border fell from around $110 per barrel to $59 per barrel, the lowest level since the financial crises in 2008-2009.
(All figures in U.S. funds.)
But Carlypso says its research shows they are wrong – at least for now.
“While one would expect electric car sales to take a tumble with gas prices at an all-time low, that is not, in fact, what our data shows,” Carlypso says.
The company says it examined 28,074,658 U.S. car sales from January 2013 to December 2014 and found that electric vehicles are slowly gaining market share.
By the end of the first quarter in 2015, more than one per cent of all new vehicles purchased will likely be electric vehicles.
In December 2014, already .86 per cent of new vehicles purchased were electric vehicles with 3,500 units of Tesla's Model S, Nissan's Leaf at 3,102 Leaf, Chevrolet's Volt at 1,490 units and BMW's i3 at 1,013 units representing more than 70 per cent of electric vehicles sales.
Carlypso says this analysis of gas prices and electric car sales was based on 28,074,658 used cars sales, of which 217,217 were electric vehicles, from January 2013 to December 2014.
In late 2008, with gas prices at or above $5 a gallon, an electric vehicle buyer could expect to save about $4,000 per year on gas compared to driving a medium sized SUV 1. Now those savings are less than half.
The demand for trucks hasn't dramatically shifted upwards either in the short term. Despite oil prices falling precipitously, demand has remained
relatively consistent between 51 to 53 per cent of seasonally adjusted sales.
Most of the increased demand in light-truck (domestic and foreign) occurred as gas prices stabilized over 2013.
Carlypso says the study, published Jan. 20, looked at all categories of light-trucks representing 16.63M retailed units from January 2013 to December 2014.2
“The data is a bit surprising; the fact is no one is really changing behavior when it comes time to buying a car despite the savings at the pump.
“Consumers still want what they want when it comes to features and choosing certain brands and models,” says Carlyspo co-founder Nicholas Hinrichsen.
“We tell our customers to buy exactly what they want, and let the investors worry about the oil prices. Your vehicle's value and demand is unlikely to change despite the oil market – even though your charges at the pump may change.”
Stanford grads, Chris Coleman and founded the online used-car sales service in 2013. The company is located in California and serves the Los Angeles area. The founders say they have sold hundreds of car so far.
