President Obama may want 1 million electric vehicles on the road in the not-so-distant future, but according to recent sales data, the American public has yet to sign on to that goal. For the month of February, both General Motors and Nissan reported remarkably low sales for their electric vehicles.
According to GM sales data, Chevy sold only 281 of their much-hyped Volt. That’s a drop from the 321 Volts the company sold in January. It’s also a number company execs apparently want to try to conceal. In the sales press release, the Volt figures are noticeably left out.
Over at Nissan, only 67 Leafs were sold in February. In January, that number was 87.
The Chevy Volt, of course, was heavily championed over at the Department of Energy, where taxpayer money through the Recovery Act was given to companies to develop the car’s electric battery. Interested Volt and Leaf buyers can also take advantage of a $7,500 tax credit upon purchasing the electric vehicle.
But despite government-funded incentives and stirring words from the president’s State of the Union, the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf have fallen flat with consumers.
