page_title: History of the electric vehicle
section_title: 2010s
hierarchical_section_title: History of the electric vehicle / 2010s
caption_attribution_description: English: Two BMW i3s at the entrance of a dedicated parking lot for EVs in Oslo, Norway.
context_page_description: Electric vehicles first appeared in the mid-19th century. An electric vehicle held the vehicular land speed record until around 1900. The high cost, low top speed, and short range of battery electric vehicles, compared to 20th century internal combustion engine vehicles, led to a worldwide decline in their use as private motor vehicles; although electric vehicles have continued to be used in the form of loading and freight equipment and public transport – especially rail vehicles.
  At the beginning of the 21st century, interest in electric and other alternative fuel vehicles in private motor vehicles has increased due to growing concern over the problems associated with hydrocarbon-fueled vehicles, including damage to the environment caused by their emissions, and the sustainability of the current hydrocarbon-based transportation infrastructure as well as improvements in electric vehicle technology.
  Since 2010, combined sales of all-electric cars and utility vans achieved 1 million units delivered globally in September 2016, and reached 3.3 million units in December 2018.
context_section_description: The Nissan Leaf, introduced in Japan and the United States in December 2010, became the first modern all-electric, zero tailpipe emission five door family hatchback to be produced for the mass market from a major manufacturer. As of January 2013, the Leaf is also available in Australia, Canada and 17 European countries.
  The Better Place network was the first modern commercial deployment of the battery swapping model. The Renault Fluence Z.E. was the first mass production electric car enable with switchable battery technology and sold for the Better Place network in Israel and Denmark. Better Place launched its first battery-swapping station in Israel, in Kiryat Ekron, near Rehovot in March 2011.  The battery exchange process took five minutes. As of December 2012, there were 17 battery switch stations fully operational in Denmark enabling customers to drive anywhere across the country in an electric car. By late 2012 the company began to suffer financial difficulties, and decided to put on hold the roll out in Australia and reduce its non-core activities in North America, as the company decided to concentrate its resources on its two existing markets. On 26 May 2013, Better Place filed for bankruptcy in Israel. The company's financial difficulties were caused by the high investment required to develop the charging and swapping infrastructure, about US$850 million in private capital, and a market penetration significantly lower than originally predicted by Shai Agassi. Less than 1,000 Fluence Z.E. cars were deployed in Israel and around 400 units in Denmark.
  The Smart electric drive, Wheego Whip LiFe, Mia electric, Volvo C30 Electric, and the Ford Focus Electric were launched for retail customers during 2011. The BYD e6, released initially for fleet customers in 2010, began retail sales in Shenzhen, China in October 2011. The Bolloré Bluecar was released in December 2011 and deployed for use in the Autolib' carsharing service in Paris. Leasing to individual and corporate customers began in October 2012 and is limited to the Île-de-France area. In February 2011, the Mitsubishi i MiEV became the first electric car to sell more than of more than 10,000 units, including the models badged in Europe as Citroën C-Zero and Peugeot. The record was officially registered by Guinness World Records. Several months later, the Nissan Leaf overtook the i MiEV as the best selling all-electric car ever, and by February 2013 global sales of the Leaf reached the 50,000 unit mark.
  The next Tesla vehicle, the Model S, was released in the U.S. on 22 June 2012 and the first delivery of a Model S to a retail customer in Europe took place on 7 August 2013. Deliveries in China began on 22 April 2014. The next model was the Tesla Model X. Other models released to the market in 2012 and 2013 include the BMW ActiveE, Coda, Renault Fluence Z.E., Honda Fit EV, Toyota RAV4 EV, Renault Zoe, Roewe E50, Mahindra e2o, Chevrolet Spark EV, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Electric Drive, Fiat 500e, Volkswagen e-Up!, BMW i3, and Kandi EV. Toyota released the Scion iQ EV in the U.S. (Toyota eQ in Japan) in 2013. The car production is limited to 100 units. The first 30 units were delivered to the University of California, Irvine in March 2013 for use in its Zero Emission Vehicle-Network Enabled Transport (ZEV-NET) carsharing fleet. Toyota announced that 90 out of the 100 vehicles produced globally will be placed in carsharing demonstration projects in the United States and the rest in Japan.
  The Coda sedan went out of production in 2013, after selling only about 100 units in California. Its manufacturer, Coda Automotive, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on 1 May 2013. The company stated that it expects to emerge from the bankruptcy process to focus on energy storage solutions as it has decided to abandon car manufacturing.
  The Tesla Model S ranked as the top selling plug-in electric car in  North America during the first quarter of 2013 with 4,900 cars sold, ahead of the Nissan Leaf (3,695). European retail deliveries of the Tesla Model S began in Oslo in August 2
caption: Dedicated free parking lot for electric cars in Oslo. In October 2018, 1 in every 10 passenger cars on Norwegian roads was a plug-in.[188]
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