Electric car Delco. These early cars were eventually withdrawn from the U.S. market. California electric automaker Tesla Motors began development in 2004 on what would become the Tesla Roadster (2008), which was first delivered to customers in 2008. The Roadster was the first highway legal serial production all-electric car to use lithium-ion battery cells, and the first production all-electric car to travel more than per charge. Tesla global sales passed 250,000 units in September 2017. The Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance achieved the milestone of 500,000 units electric vehicles sold in October 2017. Tesla sold its 200,000th Model S in the fourth quarter of 2017.
Tesla Model S up 76% over the same quarter the previous year, and setting a new record for the most cars delivered in a quarter. Global Model S sales passed the 100,000 unit milestone in December 2015, three years and a half after its introduction. A total of 50,446 Model S sedans were sold globally in 2015, making the Model S the world's best-selling plug-in electric car in 2015, ahead of the Nissan Leaf (about 43,000 units). , a total of 107,228 Model S sedans had been sold worldwide since its introduction, ranking as the world's second best selling plug-in car ever after