When Will Plug-In Electric SUVs And Crossovers Go On Sale?

Have patience, all you SUV and crossover fans who desperately want one that plugs in and runs electrically.

They're coming, but you've got a year to wait--or perhaps a bit less, with luck.

Only two vehicles remotely qualify today as plug-in crossovers or SUVs, and neither offers all-wheel drive--a necessity for many, many utility-vehicle buyers.

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The first is the low-volume Toyota RAV4 EV--of which only 2,600 will be built for model years 2012 through 2014, and which is sold in California only as a compliance car--there aren't any crossover utility vehicles or SUVs that plug in.

The second is the Ford C-Max Energi, a compact hatchback plug-in hybrid launched in 2013 whose electric range and efficiency ratings were lowered last week by Ford.

That will change next year. Here's our rundown of what's coming:

MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER PLUG-IN HYBRID: Jan-Jun 2015?

The struggling Japanese automaker actually launched the world's first plug-in hybrid SUV more than a year ago, and it too has sold well in Asia and in Europe.

The company is now constrained both by battery-pack supply and by the need to modify the plug-in hybrid Outlander to meet U.S. regulations.

Its plug-in SUV has been delayed a number of times, although a Mitsubishi source suggested that it will arrive in the U.S. more quickly than the most dire predictions that delayed it to Fall 2015.

We suspect that when the plug-in Outlander arrives, it'll include updates to equipment and perhaps even styling that launch that model's mid-cycle refresh. The current model has been on sale in gasoline form in the U.S. for two years now.

TESLA MODEL X: Volume deliveries start April-June 2015

The second volume model from electric-car startup Tesla Motors has, like its earlier models, been somewhat delayed from the originally announced schedule.

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On an earnings call several weeks ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that volume production of the Model X--originally scheduled for around now, then postponed to the last quarter of this year--would ramp up in the second quarter of 2015.

It's still possible that handfuls of early-production Model X electric crossovers will trickle out of the second assembly line at Tesla's assembly plant in Fremont, California.