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Tesla Leads US Luxury Car Sales Yet Again, Per January 2023 Figures
Based on the numbers, Tesla's sales were up 34% as compared to January 2022
Tesla started off the year with a bang thanks in part to substantial price cuts on its lineup of EVs. According to Experian data from January 2023, the electric car maker racked up nearly 50,000 new registrations in the States, which is a massive lead over second-place BMW, with around 31,000 registrations.
Some people will argue that Tesla isn't a luxury automaker since its cars aren't as fancy as those produced by BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, and others. However, the US EV maker has long been considered a luxury brand due to its price points and cutting-edge technology. Even amid the larger price cuts, Tesla's EVs were still sold at prices comparable to luxury classmates.
Tesla doesn't typically start off the year strong, rather, it focuses on dialing up sales at the end of each quarter, with the biggest push at the end of the year. However, opening the year with some of the biggest price reductions the brand has ever offered, on top of the availability of the newly revamped $7,500 US federal EV tax credit made for historic figures for the world's most well-known EV producer.
According to Automotive News, Tesla saw 49,917 new registrations in January 2023. Meanwhile, BMW had 31,070, followed by Mercedes' 23,345 and Lexus' 23,082. As you can see, Tesla sold 19,000 more vehicles in January than BMW and more than doubled Mercedes' and Lexus' new registrations for the month.
It's important to note that we're not talking about EV sales here. The numbers provided by Experian account for all new cars registered for the month as a whole, regardless of powertrain. If we were to look at Tesla's EV sales as compared to rival luxury brands, the discrepancy would be much more significant. More on that in a moment ...
Based on the numbers, Tesla's sales were up 34% as compared to January 2022. Meanwhile, BMW was up just 2.5%. Mercedes increased its sales year over year by 7.3% and Lexus saw a 6.6% drop.
The Model Y SUV was Tesla's best-selling vehicle for the period, which is to be expected since it saw a $13,000 price drop for the new year. Of the ~50,000 new Teslas registered in January 2023, nearly 29,000 were Model Ys, which marks a 56% increase year over year. Model 3 registrations were up 29%, to 17,526 units sold during the same time period.
Experian's data also shows that the overall EV market increased by 74% in January 2023, to 87,708 registrations in total. Since nearly 50,000 of the EVs sold were produced by Tesla, this shows that nearly 39,000 non-Tesla EVs entered the market during the same month.
While this is encouraging, keep in mind that it took every luxury and mainstream automaker combined to sell fewer EVs in one month than Tesla did alone.
It's expected that it will go online later this month
According to the latest reports from the Netherlands, the new Tesla Supercharging station with V4 stalls in Harderwijk appears to be ready.
As we can see in the images, provided by fritsvanens, the new stalls are black and white, instead of red and white like in the case of V3 stalls. They are also taller to accommodate a noticeably longer cable, attached at the top.
The station in Harderwijk has a total of 16 stalls, as noted in the previous report, but we don't know other details - specifically the power output (V3 versions are rated at up to 250 kilowatts).
Europe has been prioritized because there is the highest number of stations available for non-Tesla electric vehicles, through the non-Tesla Supercharging Pilot program. Because various non-Tesla electric cars have charging inlets in different locations, a longer charging cable is a necessity to connect some of them without awkward parking or blocking two stalls.
The first V4 Supercharging station is expected to go online later this month. At least that's what we think, considering that the infrastructure is installed and probably just awaits final approval.
Tesla adds ‘Charge on Excess Solar’ function in app to get clean range at home
Tesla is going to let owners of its electric vehicles charge their cars using excess solar energy that has accumulated throughout the day and can’t be stored in a Powerwall, coding in its smartphone app seems to reveal.
“Plug in your vehicle at home during the day to charge using the excess clean energy generated by your solar system,” an update in the Tesla app’s coding says. “Set your charge limits and location and tell your vehicle when and where to charge only from excess solar.” (h/t @longzheng)
The app also will state that owners can “set your vehicle’s battery to charge as usual from any available sources for enough daily driving range. Then reserve part of your vehicle’s battery to charge only when excess solar is available.”
The feature will utilize only clean energy accumulated from a solar array to charge the vehicle, which aligns with the description of the feature: “Drive on Sunshine. Get the cleanest charge for your car.”
The feature is set to launch with version 4.19.0, which was launched just one hour ago as of 7:30 PM on the East Coast.
The function will allow owners to charge their vehicles by using only solar energy, which is renewable and will ensure the car will be using no fossil fuels throughout the entire charging and driving process.
In an effort to make the entire process of owning an electric vehicle as sustainable as possible, Tesla is likely rolling out this feature to alleviate any use of fossil fuels or related projects for owners who are more interested in having a clean charge at home. When there is more energy being generated than the house can consume, it will then be used to charge the vehicle.
With the Powerwall, excess energy is utilized from the production of energy from solar panels and stored in the battery.
Recently, Apple adopted a similar process with the iPhone by allowing owners to turn on a setting known as “Clean Energy Charging,” which will only charge the phone when the grid is operating on renewable resources.
Tesla adds ‘Charge on Excess Solar’ function in app to get clean range at home
That's an awesome feature! After looking at my latest PG&E bill, it looks like so far since July 2022, both my EV's have run on about 95 percent renewable energy, that being from the Sun. If next year the EV9 comes out and is priced right, we'll have an almost 100 percent carbon free footprint when it comes to vehicles. We do still have a gas stove, heater and water heater, so it will be awhile before we can go fully electric
@AMIRZA786 Which cars can use the V4 chargers? All that juice will generate a ton of chargin heat.
Are you talking about non Tesla EV's? My Polestar can charge up to 150kW, but my Hyundai Ioniq can only do up to 50kW, my daughters Bolt can reach 55kW max. They should be able to handle it, as the onboard charger will reduce the charging rate. I'm assuming Tesla chargers are smart enough to reduce the rate. I can put my Polestar on an Electrify America 350kW DCFC and it will automatically reduce the rate to the max charge speed allowed by the battery.
That said, I should have a Model Y before years end. I only use DC Fast chargers for my Polestar when I travel, once I get the Model Y, I will only use that to travel and the Polestar will go to my wife that only drives locally
Are you talking about non Tesla EV's? My Polestar can charge up to 150kW, but my Hyundai Ioniq can only do up to 50kW, my daughters Bolt can reach 55kW max. They should be able to handle it, as the onboard charger will reduce the charging rate. I'm assuming Tesla chargers are smart enough to reduce the rate. I can put my Polestar on an Electrify America 350kW DCFC and it will automatically reduce the rate to the max charge speed allowed by the battery.
That said, I should have a Model Y before years end. I only use DC Fast chargers for my Polestar when I travel, once I get the Model Y, I will only use that to travel and the Polestar will go to my wife that only drives locally
My question is, "What good do V4 chargers do for you and me with our Model Y and Model 3?" My guess is, nothing, righ now... What does Elon have up his sleeve?
Respectfully, I am not interested in non Tesla cars... Ha!
