Flooring the all-electric BMW i3 pushes the driver back into his seat without any sound of the grinding gears or a revving motor.
“It’s like a really powerful golf cart,” quipped Donna Holmgren, a sales representative at Murray BMW of Denver.
The electric car is a far cry from a golf cart these days, with brands such as BMW and Porsche turning out models. Still, sales growth among electric and hybrid vehicles is hobbled by sticker price and limited range.
Through August, about 35,000 electric and plug-in vehicles have been sold this year — marking less than 1 percent of all vehicle sales, according to Kelley Blue Book.
“We are looking at a few more years of tough competition and slow growth,” said Alec Gutierrez, a Kelley analyst.
The cost of the vehicles — $35,000 on the low side — and the limited range — perhaps 100 miles on a single battery charge — continue to make them the “want, not need, purchases,” Edmunds.com analyst Jeremy Acevedo said.
A host of electric and hybrid vehicles were on display in Denver on Wednesday at an run-up event to National Drive Electric Week, which starts Monday.
Test drives reveal some of their charm.
At the core of the market, Gutierrez said, are two vehicles: Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt hybrid.
This year, through August, nearly 19,000 Leafs and 13,100 Volts have been sold — 42 percent of all the electric and hybrid vehicles sold, according to the website Inside EVs.
The biggest markets for those vehicles were Washington state, Hawaii and California, according to Edmunds. Colorado was eighth on the list for such registrations.
When the start button on the Leaf is pushed, electronic chimes go off to let the driver know the car is on. There is no other sound.
A circular yellow icon on the dash lets the driver know the car’s range, starting at 100 miles.
Drive fast, and the range diminishes more quickly. Any use of the air conditioning or radio also cuts into the range.
“It isn’t big, but it does affect range,” said Megan Smith, a representative of Tynan’s Nissan in Aurora.
The top-of-the-line Leaf costs about $38,000.
The Volt operates as an electric car for the first 38 miles then uses a a gasoline engine to power the battery for another 340 miles of travel.
Compared with some other vehicles, the Volt was a bit pokey, until it was slipped into “sport” mode — but that affects its driving distance.
The price ranges from $35,000 to $40,000, said Justin Ling of John Elway Chevrolet in Denver.
Sales of the Leaf and Volt have been spurred by attractive monthly lease rates — about $200 and $296, respectively, Gutierrez said.
While 25 percent of all new cars are leased and 60 percent of luxury cars are leased, 70 percent of electric vehicles are leased, he said.
One of the hottest parts of the market has been the luxury vehicle, Edmunds’ Acevedo said.
BMW’s i3 is the newest entrant in that market. The 1,003 sales in August beat out the Tesla S, the paragon of electric luxury.
Of course, the “Beemer,” at $41,000, is a relatively good deal when compared with the $90,000 Tesla.
“The BMW i3 is even an opportunity to trade up from a Nissan,” Gutierrez said.
Far from a bargain is Porsche’s Panamera E-Hybrid, at $111,000. With its stylish cockpit, including ventilated seats that have 14 positions, and a gasoline engine and electric motor working in parallel, the Panamera has “all the engineering and intangibles of a Porsche,” said Canaan Currin of Stevinson Imports in Littleton.
“This was the first vehicle challenging the Tesla S,” Currin said.
People may buy a Tesla or a Porsche hybrid because the environmental footprint of a Ferrari is too big, Currin said.
Sales of hybrid vehicles have stopped growing as the market is being squeezed on both sides — by electric vehicles and by lower-cost, high-fuel-economy conventional vehicles, said John Gartner, an analyst with Navigant Research.
Currin, however, isn’t worried about more fuel-efficient automobiles.
“The person who spends $100,000 on a vehicle isn’t going to worry about saving a few dollars a month in gas,” Currin said.
Mark Jaffe: 303-954-1912, mjaffe@denverpost.com or twitter.com/bymarkjaffe
