EPA just published the official ratings: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find.do?action=sbs&id=36248&id=37470 There seems to be a slight difference with the numbers reported here (i.e. range).

Oops! I mean 2015 not 2025.

And 2025 is posee to pass a record 450,000 highway legal light-duty PHEVs, pull by Europe and China, consistent with JATO's projections.

As per the comments above, the title should be corrected to state that this study is about the European Union, not Europe. Because Switzerland and Norway are excluded, the PEV stock count is missing some 80,000 plug-ins in European roads.

This study seems to exclude Norway, which is the leading European country, both in terms of market share, over 20% in 2015, and total registered PEV fleet, over 74,000 at the end of September 2015. When all European countries are considered, the were over 230,000 plug-in at the end of 2014, and about 350,000 by the end of September 2015

Henrik, you meant that the Model S was the top selling plug-in during 2Q 2015. As for the crown for the first half of 2015 the race is on between the Leaf and the Model S (unless the Mitsubishi Oultlander P-HEV surprises), CYTD by May the Leaf was ahead by 3,000 units, check here: http://ev-sales.blogspot.com.br/2015/06/world-top-10-may-2015.html We will have to wait for the final figures for the other models to know which model took the crown for the first six months of 2015.

No new news here. Brazil has been using high blends of ethanol in gasoline since 1976, and beginning in 1993, all gasoline in the country contains between 20 to 25% ethanol. In addition, today about 90% of the light-passenger cars are flex-fuel, so cars and pick-ups built for the Brazilian market already have their engines working on higher compression rates. What the article is missing is that using higher ethanol blends improves the octane rating but reduce fuel economy. I have imported two American cars to Brazil, and in my experience, mpg is about 6 to 7% lower as compared to standard E10 in the U.S. Also, I am suspicious about the price estimates. Currently, if you fill with E85 in the U.S. you pay more per gallon as compared with gasoline because ethanol has between 25 to 30% less energy content than gasoline. So an extra 1 cent per gallon is a gross underestimation of the retail price at the pump. An finally, winter temperatures are important only for blends above 70%, that is why flex cars in Brazil can use 100% ethanol but cars in temperate countries cannot.

I am quite skeptical of the conclusions of this studies for the following reasons: 1. Drivers in developing countries tend to be much more aggressive than their American and European counterparts (hard accelerating and braking, less safe distance among vehicles, etc.), thus reducing significantly the potential of battery regen. 2. Traffic congestion in developing countries tend to have more stop-and-go, leaving the car idling more often than in the typical U.S. or European city. Under this condition, the relatively low capacity of a hybrid's battery is critical. Once the battery is depleted and with fewer opportunities of coasting/braking to regen, the hybrid consumes fuel just as a regular car. As a piece of empirical evidence, I imported my 2012 Camry Hybrid LE to Brazil recently. In the U.S., I did in a couple of months about 39.5 mpg. In Brasilia, a city planned for cars, I did 38.5 mpg during the first year (almost no highway travel). The loss was due essentially to the higher ethanol content of Brazilian gasoline (E25 from E10 in the U.S.) And by the way, I changed my driving style to ecodriving to take advantage of the hybrid fuel savings potential. A couple of months ago, and due to the incoming Soccer World Cup, a lot of street closings have taken place downtown and the already heavy rush hour became chaos. My travel time almost doubled, and with it, the fuel economy suffered. Now I am making an average for my daily commute of 34.5 mpg. Since I became addicted to the hybrid monitoring screens, I noticed that the main culprit for the lower performance is the battery. In heavy stop-and-go, the battery drains faster, and you are left with a regular gasoline-powered car, making just around 25 mpg. Once the battery reaches the critical minimum level there is no stop/start, the engine is idling just wasting gasoline, and you can watch in the screen how your mpg just is going down fast. I thought hybrids were good to handle snail's pace traffic jams, but they are not. Hybrids need a larger battery! Finally, this is my experience with a Toyota hybrid, but remember than over 6 million out the 7 million hybrids on the world's roads use Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive powertrain technology.

In the press release Toyota breakdowns cumulative sales by model, but forgot to show PiP sales. Doing the math of Toyota's figures (total global sales less HEV sales by model) shows that 54,400 Prius Plug-in hybrids have been sold by the end of 2013 (of which 24,838 were sold in the U.S. - 45.6% of global sales). It is weird they did not make any fuss about passing the 50K milestone in 2013. It seems Toyota is really just focussing on conventional hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

I imported an American spec 2004 Volvo S40 to Brazil in late 2005. It has been running just fine without any adjustment with E25 for 8 years, and the drop in MPG was about 5%. Last year I imported a 2012 Camry Hybrid, and it is also running just fine. Brazil uses sugarcane ethanol, which is considered an advanced biofuel by both the EPA and CARB. So opponents of ethanol should stop making up excuses for not using low blends due to alleged mechanical failures. The debate should instead center on the environmental impacts of using corn ethanol and available options from other more sustainable feedstocks (available in the U.S. or imported from developing countries, particularly from Africa). If found suitable, all passenger vehicles should be sold with a E85 flex engine, just like Brazil, where more than 90% of new cars have been sold E100 flex fuel ready for several years.

The sales report by TMC seems rushed and clumsy. Toyota Aqua sales in Japan are not included together with the Prius c (same vehicle different badging). More than 350K Aquas have been sold in Japan, and in fact, it was the top selling new car for several months last year. Cumulative sales report global figures through May 2013 but US through June? Well, the important fact is that the Prius liftback has reached the 3 million milestone.

How much additional weight the structural reinforcement will put up? How much is the mpg and mpg-e loss?

Guys, based on the description, it seems likely this is the same car announced in the US as the Prius c! Remember that the Pius v is called Prius Alpha in Japan and Prius + in Europe. This is by far the first time that Toyota uses different in different markets around the word.

I have a reservation for the Leaf (and live in one of the US initial launch markets). Today (July 16) Nissan sent a survey via e-mail with most questions relating to the battery warranty, comparing 5yr/60k mi vs 8yr/100k. It seems GM announcement is making Nissan reconsider its strategy regarding the battery pack. There are also questions regarding how much is the buyer willing to pay to extend the battery warranty from 5yr/60k to 8yr/100k, clearly trying to establish the sweet spot for this potential charge. In my case, I will go for the Volt if they keep the 5yr/60k, just think of the low resale value. Who is going to buy an used EV if the new owner has to buy a new battery pack that cost around $10K or that only recharges 65-70% of its capacity (reducing range proportionally)?

As I had already signed up for buying a Leaf, today I received an e-mail from Nissan as a reminder that next Tuesday 20th, the process will begin. I am noticed that in small print it says: "When sales commences in December 2010, limited quantities available in select markets/states thru online reservation system. Increased avail. in Spring 2011 with full market rollout thru 2012." This tells me that the 2010 launch is just a marketing stunt. What do you think?

Could you please check a possible factual error.I think NYC total taxi fleet is 13,237, of which only 15% are hybrids, totaling just below 2000 hybrids, and not all are Ford Escapes, there are plenty of Prius too. See here http://www.infotaxi.org/article_142.htm (and that is the figure I have seen in other sources).

Spending money on more research? The Brazilian light fleet has been using E20 to E25 for almost two decades now (Wiki: History of ethanol fuel in Brazil). There is plenty of experience over here, and in fact many American and European automotive firms have Brazilian subsidiaries that played an active role in developing the Brazilian E20 to E100 (hydrous) flex-fuel fleet. I myself brought my American Volvo S40 here in 2006 and have been using gasohol E25 since without any adjustment (pure gasoline is not sold here since 1976!) It wouldn't be easier if all new vehicles were built flex fuel capable, including hybrids and plug-ins, and adapt base on the extensive Brazilian experience?