A Recession Certainly Won't Help EV Sales; Another DOE Battery Plant in Trouble?

Updates

Later, 8:48 pm: the linked article below has two interesting data points at the very end of the article:

• Some Arizona owners recently have raised concerns about the Leaf's diminished range in hot weather. [Ah, yes, batteries and hot weather -- something I am very familiar with in south Texas.]
• Nissan received $1.4 billion in Energy Department loans to build a battery plant and upgrade a factory building the Leaf in Smyrna, Tenn. The company had invited reporters to attend a grand opening of the battery plant on Friday but abruptly canceled the ceremony.

Original Post 

For a quick review of electric vehicle sales over the past few years, click here. Something tells me the "fiscal cliff" uncertainty won't help EV sales. Nissan, apparently, is thinking the same way:

Nissan Motor CEO Carlos Ghosn finally admitted the automaker will not meet its sales target for its all-electric Leaf — in another sign of the broad struggle of the electric vehicle industry.

"The forecast we have given ourselves for the year will not be reached," Ghosn told Bloomberg Television ...

Despite months of lagging sales,

For the year, Nissan has sold 6,791 Leafs, down 15.6 percent from this time a year ago.

Nissan sold 9,679 all-electric Leafs in 2011. In April, Nissan said an executive misspoke when he said the company was not likely to double sales of its all-electric Leaf in 2012.

Ghosn has previously predicted that 10 percent of all vehicles sold by 2020 worldwide will be electric vehicles.

And, of course, next summer's recession won't help sales either. Gasoline should be pretty cheap next summer.