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 These early cars were eventually withdrawn from the U.S. market.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 after its introduction, with the largest share, 57%, in the US. With an estimated 12,700 units delivered during the fourth quarter of 2016, sales totaled about 50,931 units in 2016, making the Model S the world's top selling plug-in car for the second year running. The United States had about 29,156 units delivered, followed by China with 6,334, surpassing Norway as the largest Model S overseas market. , about 158,159 Model S cars have been sold worldwide since its introduction, making the Model S the world's second best-selling plug-in electric car ever after the Nissan Leaf (250,000), and ahead of