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 These early cars were eventually withdrawn from the U.S. market.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 cars, but only 2,499 of those vehicles were registered for road use in China. Tesla's CEO expressed disappointment with the Chinese sales, as stock continued to be high by early 2015. As sales improved, Model S sales reached 2,147 units representing an 80% share of the imported plug-in hybrid or electric car segment in China for the first half of 2015. Sales totaled 3,025 units during the first nine months of 2015, for cumulative registrations of 5,524 units through September 2015. Tesla's initial sales target for 2015 was 10,000 units. Sales totaled 6,334 units in 2016. Sales of the Model