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 These early cars were eventually withdrawn from the U.S. market.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.
History of the electric vehicle the world's top selling highway-capable electric car in history. The Tesla Model S, with global deliveries of more than 100,000 units, is the world's second best selling all-electric car of all-time. The Model S ranked as the world's best selling plug-in electric vehicle in 2015, up from second best in 2014. The Model S was also the top selling plug-in car in the U.S. in 2015. Most models released in the world's markets to retail customers during 2015 were plug-in hybrids. The only new series production all-electric cars launched up to October 2015 were the BYD e5 and the Tesla