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Tesla Model X cited as “most significant vehicle”, by growth contribution to record 2016 PEV sales
Electric and plug-in hybrid car sales established new sales records in 2016 with the Tesla Model X earning the title of “most significant vehicle” according to EV Volumes. The industry tracking site cites the Model X for its contribution to the growth of plug-in car sales in the US this past year.
EV Volumes defines any car with a plug as a plug-in, which may cause some Tesla fans heartburn. The site does acknowledge that plug-in hybrids are probably a stop-gap solution until there are more pure electric cars with at least 200 miles of range available to American consumers.
“The volume increase in 2016 can be attributed to Tesla (+95 % for S & X combined), the new GM Volt (+61 %), Ford Fusion (+63 %) and a number of newcomers, mostly in the Plug-in Hybrid category.” indicates the published report. “By its growth contribution, the Tesla Model X must be regarded the most significant vehicle this year.”
The Tesla Model S was the overall sales leader for the year with 28,821 units sold to US customers, a 22% increase over 2015. The Model X finished the year with 17,629 US sales, good enough for 3rd place overall. The second generation Chevy Volt claimed 2nd place with 24,739 cars delivered to customers in the US, a 61% increase.
US plug-in car sales since January, 2011. Source: ZEV Facts by Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers
California claimed nearly 50% of all plug-in sales with the other 9 states that adhere to the California zero emissions standards accounting for another 13%. Combined, all ten states accounted for nearly 62% of all US plug-in sales. In the conventional car market, those states make up about 28% of the US new car market.
Other cars with plugs that sold more than 10,000 units in the US in 2016 include the Ford Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid, which saw its sales grow 63% last year to almost equal the Tesla Model X in total sales. The Fusion Energi now accounts for about 10% of all Fusion sales, despite the fact that Ford CEO Mark Fields insists that nobody wants to buy electric cars.
Sales of the Fusion Energi took off midyear after Ford began to advertise it as the longest range plug-in hybrid available. That claim is technically accurate — the Fusion Energi can travel more than 600 miles on a tank of fuel. But it is misleading in that the car only has 22 miles of range on battery power alone, which is only fair to middling for a plug-in hybrid these days.
To give the Fusion Hybrid more range, Ford simply increased the size of the gas tank. All of which suggests that the buying public is still woefully uninformed about cars with plugs, just as Elon Musk always claims when he talks about what a poor job car companies and automobile dealers do marketing electric cars.
The last car to sell more than 10,000 units last year is the venerable Nissan LEAF. Although Nissan promises an all new second generation LEAF with 200 miles or more of range sometime before the end of 2019, the current car is hopelessly out of date. It is essentially the same as it was when it first went on sale at the end of 2010. Still, the LEAF soldiered on to sell just over 14,000 cars in the US last year.
2016 Plug-in car sales in the US. Source: EV Volumes
In all, more than 156,000 cars with plugs were sold in the US in 2016. EV Volumes predicts that number will climb to 250,000 or more in 2017, assuming at least 50,000 Tesla Model 3 sedans are included. Whether the Model 3 makes it to market in significant numbers is one of the biggest stories industry watchers will be following this year.
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Tesla Robotaxi has a highly-requested hardware feature not available on typical Model Ys
These camera washers are crucial for keeping the operation going, as they are the sole way Teslas operate autonomously. The cameras act as eyes for the car to drive, recognize speed limit and traffic signs, and travel safely.
Tesla Robotaxi has a highly-requested hardware feature that is not available on typical Model Ys that people like you and me bring home after we buy them. The feature is something that many have been wanting for years, especially after the company adopted a vision-only approach to self-driving.
After Tesla launched driverless Robotaxi rides to the public earlier this week in Austin, people have been traveling to the Lone Star State in an effort to hopefully snag a ride from one of the few vehicles in the fleet that are now no longer required to have Safety Monitors present.
BREAKING: Tesla launches public Robotaxi rides in Austin with no Safety Monitor
Although only a few of those completely driverless rides are available, there have been some new things seen on these cars that are additions from regular Model Ys, including the presence of one new feature: camera washers.
With the Model Y, there has been a front camera washer, but the other exterior “eyes” have been void of any solution for this. For now, owners are required to clean them manually.
In Austin, Tesla is doing things differently. It is now utilizing camera washers on the side repeater and rear bumper cameras, which will keep the cameras clean and keep operation as smooth and as uninterrupted as possible:
🚨 Tesla looks to have installed Camera Washers on the side repeater cameras on Robotaxis in Austin
pic.twitter.com/xemRtDtlRR— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 23, 2026
Rear Camera Washer on Tesla Robotaxi pic.twitter.com/P9hgGStHmV
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 24, 2026
These camera washers are crucial for keeping the operation going, as they are the sole way Teslas operate autonomously. The cameras act as eyes for the car to drive, recognize speed limit and traffic signs, and travel safely.
This is the first time we are seeing them, so it seems as if Safety Monitors might have been responsible for keeping the lenses clean and unobstructed previously.
However, as Tesla transitions to a fully autonomous self-driving suite and Robotaxi expands to more vehicles in the Robotaxi fleet, it needed to find a way to clean the cameras without any manual intervention, at least for a short period, until they can return for interior and exterior washing.
Tesla made a dramatic change to the Online Design Studio to show its plans for Full Self-Driving, a major part of the company’s plans moving forward, as CEO Elon Musk has been extremely clear on the direction moving forward.
With Tesla taking a stand and removing the ability to purchase Full Self-Driving outright next month, it is already taking steps to initiate that with owners and potential buyers.
On Thursday night, the company updated its Online Design Studio to reflect that in a new move that now lists the three purchase options that are currently available: Monthly Subscription, One-Time Purchase, or Add Later:
🚨 Check out the change Tesla made to its Online Design Studio:
It now lists the Monthly Subscription as an option for Full Self-Driving
It also shows the outright purchase option as expiring on February 14 pic.twitter.com/pM6Svmyy8d
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 23, 2026
This change replaces the former option for purchasing Full Self-Driving at the time of purchase, which was a simple and single box to purchase the suite outright. Subscriptions were activated through the vehicle exclusively.
However, with Musk announcing that Tesla would soon remove the outright purchase option, it is clearer than ever that the Subscription plan is where the company is headed.
The removal of the outright purchase option has been a polarizing topic among the Tesla community, especially considering that there are many people who are concerned about potential price increases or have been saving to purchase it for $8,000.
This would bring an end to the ability to pay for it once and never have to pay for it again. With the Subscription strategy, things are definitely going to change, and if people are paying for their cars monthly, it will essentially add $100 per month to their payment, pricing some people out. The price will increase as well, as Musk said on Thursday, as it improves in functionality.
I should also mention that the $99/month for supervised FSD will rise as FSD’s capabilities improve.
The massive value jump is when you can be on your phone or sleeping for the entire ride (unsupervised FSD). https://t.co/YDKhXN3aaG
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 23, 2026
Those skeptics have grown concerned that this will actually lower the take rate of Full Self-Driving. While it is understandable that FSD would increase in price as the capabilities improve, there are arguments for a tiered system that would allow owners to pay for features that they appreciate and can afford, which would help with data accumulation for the company.
Musk’s new compensation package also would require Tesla to have 10 million active FSD subscriptions, but people are not sure if this will move the needle in the correct direction. If Tesla can potentially offer a cheaper alternative that is not quite unsupervised, things could improve in terms of the number of owners who pay for it.
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Tesla Model S completes first ever FSD Cannonball Run with zero interventions
The coast-to-coast drive marked the first time Tesla’s FSD system completed the iconic, 3,000-mile route end to end with no interventions.
A Tesla Model S has completed the first-ever full Cannonball Run using Full Self-Driving (FSD), traveling from Los Angeles to New York with zero interventions. The coast-to-coast drive marked the first time Tesla’s FSD system completed the iconic, 3,000-mile route end to end, fulfilling a long-discussed benchmark for autonomy.
A full FSD Cannonball Run
As per a report from The Drive, a 2024 Tesla Model S with AI4 and FSD v14.2.2.3 completed the 3,081-mile trip from Redondo Beach in Los Angeles to midtown Manhattan in New York City. The drive was completed by Alex Roy, a former automotive journalist and investor, along with a small team of autonomy experts.
Roy said FSD handled all driving tasks for the entirety of the route, including highway cruising, lane changes, navigation, and adverse weather conditions. The trip took a total of 58 hours and 22 minutes at an average speed of 64 mph, and about 10 hours were spent charging the vehicle. In later comments, Roy noted that he and his team cleaned out the Model S’ cameras during their stops to keep FSD’s performance optimal.
History made
The historic trip was quite impressive, considering that the journey was in the middle of winter. This meant that FSD didn’t just deal with other cars on the road. The vehicle also had to handle extreme cold, snow, ice, slush, and rain.
As per Roy in a post on X, FSD performed so well during the trip that the journey would have been completed faster if the Model S did not have people onboard. “Elon Musk was right. Once an autonomous vehicle is mature, most human input is error. A comedy of human errors added hours and hundreds of miles, but FSD stunned us with its consistent and comfortable behavior,” Roy wrote in a post on X.
Roy’s comments are quite notable as he has previously attempted Cannonball Runs using FSD on December 2024 and February 2025. Neither were zero intervention drives.
Tesla Robotaxi has a highly-requested hardware feature not available on typical Model Ys
Tesla makes big Full Self-Driving change to reflect future plans
