The United States is the largest electric car market in the world. Through November of this year, 83,647 electric cars were sold in America. While this represents a 26-percent increase over the number sold during the same period in 2013, it is a small percentage of the total U.S. market, and the impact of gasoline at $2.25 per gallon is yet to be determined. Moreover, 55 percent of the electric cars sold in the U.S. are plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (“PHEVs”), suggesting that consumers still do not trust the range of cars powered solely with electric.

In terms of winners in the U.S. market, the all-electric Nissan Leaf and range-extended Chevy Volt (which has gasoline engine back-up), are the top sellers this year, accounting for almost 50 percent of electric car sales. The Toyota Prius, Ford Fusion and Ford C-Max Energi, all PHEVs, round out the top five with another one-third of the market.