Top-selling electric car in California is not a Tesla

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

Sales associate Devani Knox (right) thanks Dana Nachman and her children for test driving an all-electric Bolt at a Chevrolet dealership in Fremont. The Bolt topped electric car registrations in California last year, according to a new report.

No company sells or leases as many electric cars in California as Tesla, a report released Wednesday found.

But the most popular electric car in California does not come from the Palo Alto automaker . That honor belongs to Detroit stalwart General Motors instead.

The Chevrolet Bolt topped electric car registrations in the state last year, according to the report from the California New Car Dealers Association and Auto Outlook, Inc. A total of 13,487 Bolts were sold or leased in California, compared with 11,813 Tesla Model S sedans. The vast difference in prices — the Bolt starts at $36,620, while the most basic version of a Model S costs $74,500 — may have something to do with the ranking.

Tesla, however, also sold the state’s third most popular electric vehicle, the Model X crossover SUV, with 6,910 registered in California in 2017.

Although Tesla introduced its Model 3 lower-priced sedan midway through 2017, deliveries to customers who are not Tesla employees did not start until the end of the year. The Model 3 does not show up in the California Green Vehicle Report’s top 20 list of most popular alternative-powertrain cars.

Overall, California new electric car registrations rose 30.4 percent from 2016 to hit 51,225, while sales and leases of plug-in hybrids grew a comparable 29.5 percent, reaching 44,962. But new registrations for standard hybrids slipped 4.9 percent, because drivers who might have purchased them in the past may have bought plug-in hybrids or pure electrics instead.

And electric cars still account for just 2.5 percent of new car registrations in the state, according to the report, while plug-in hybrids account for 2.2 percent and non-plug-in hybrids account for 4.6 percent. More than 83 percent of new vehicles sold or leased in California last year have internal combustion engines burning gasoline.

“While an increase in green vehicle sales is positive for California and our environmental goals, the reality is consumers still largely prefer gasoline powered vehicles,” said California New Car Dealers Association Chairperson, Taz Harvey of Dublin Mazda, in a press release. “Issues like convenience, affordability, range and choice are all significant factors.”

David R. Baker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dbaker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DavidBakerSF

California electric car sales in 2017

Chevrolet Bolt: 13,487

Tesla Model S: 11,813

Tesla Model X: 6,910

Fiat 500: 4,943

Nissan Leaf: 4,418

VW Golf: 3,202

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