Tesla Model X (Nadege/Bigstock.com)

News that Tesla is selling twice as many vehicles as it was last year suggests the electric vehicle market is set for substantial growth.

The California luxury car maker sold 24,500 vehicles in the third quarter, compared to 11,603 in the same period in 2015.

Last year's sales were mostly comprised of the Model S – a car which remains the firm's flagship product. Tesla delivered 15,800 Model S cars between July and September.

The company’s strong Q3 was buoyed by the new Model X SUV, which started rolling off production lines in September last year. 8,700 Model X cars were delivered over the last three months.

However, buying a Tesla is not cheap. The 'entry level' Model S starts at $66,000 (£51,000), while even a basic Model X will set buyers back $83,000 (£65,000).

But the big money is arguably in lower cost, mass-market electric vehicles (EVs). Indeed, Tesla's enigmatic boss Elon Musk has a cheaper model in the pipeline – the $33,000 Model 3.

Tesla won’t have the market to itself for long, however. GM's all-electric Chevrolet Bolt will arrive in the US next year starting at $37,495.

Volkswagen, meanwhile, is developing an all-electric car called I.D., but that won’t arrive until 2020.

In the UK, electric car sales are rising steadily. Deliveries in the first half of 2016 outstripped the same period in 2015 by 30 per cent.

80,000 electric cars have been registered in the UK since 2011.

EVs now represent around 1.3 per cent of the UK's total new car market.