Renault Zoe leads EV sales jump in Europe

The Renault Zoe led a 49% electric vehicle (EV) sales jump in Europe during the first quarter of this year.

Alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) in the Europe Union (EU) are off to a very strong start in the first quarter of 2017, increasing their numbers sold by 37.6% to 212,945 vehicles, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association says.

Hybrid vehicles (HEV) showed the biggest growth with 61.2% versus the same period last year, now counting 111,006 units, electrek reports.

Electrically chargeable vehicles (ECV, BEV and plug-in hybrids) grew with 29.9% from 36,322 units sold in the first quarter of 2016 to 47,196 units for the same time in 2017.

This includes 49% growth for “battery-only” (BEVs) to 24,592 units sold and 13% growth for the plug-in hybrids (21,644 units).

The US market showed a similar growth of 49% for electric car sales to 40,700 units sold in the first quarter, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

The American car market is about 16% larger.

All the major markets in the EU added many new AFV registrations over the first three months.
Spain showed the largest increase (plus 87.4%) over the first quarter of 2017 followed by Germany (plus 67.5%), the United Kingdom (plus 29.9%), France (plus 24.8%) and Italy (17.2%).

The growth in Italy is due in large part to the recovery in LPG-fuelled (natural gas) cars, but for the other markets, the growth is mostly the result of strong sales in electrically chargeable vehicles (ECVs or BEVs) and hybrid-electric (plug-in hybrids).

Electric or battery-only car sales in Europe reported by the European Alternative Fuels Observatory show the improved Renault Zoe

is the number one seller by far, followed by the Nissan Leaf, BMW i3, Tesla Model S and X and the others. The Zoe’s success story results in a 14.7% market share in Europe, but in France the Zoe accounts for a larger than 70% market share of BEVs.