Renault says it has claimed the top spot for electric vehicles (EVs) in Europe. Last year, sales of the company’s Z.E. range of electric cars rose 49 per cent to 23,086, representing a 23.6 per cent share of the European market for all-electric models.

The total European electric vehicle market stands at 97,687 units, up 47.8 per cent compared to 2014, although that still only makes up 0.61 per cent of the overall car market.

The Renault Zoe is the top-selling all-electric passenger car with its market share increasing by 2.2 percentage points to 19.2 per cent and 18,453 new registrations in 2015. It sold particularly well in France, where it recorded a 48.1 per cent market share (versus 41.2 per cent in 2014) and 10,670 units sold, thanks to the “superbonus” incentive set up by the French government in April 2015. More than half of ZOE sales in France benefitted from the incentive.

Renault Kangoo Z.E. is the best-selling electric LCV in Europe with 4,325 units sold in 2015, accounting for 42.6 per cent of the all-electric LCV market.

In the UK, Zoe sales were up 102 per cent in 2015 to 2,053 vehicles, significantly outpacing the UK electric vehicle market. ZOE is the second best-selling electric car in the UK representing one in five EVs sold here.

As well as the Zoe and Kangoo Z.E., Renault also sells the Twizy electric quadricycle, which is not included in these figures. Since its launch, 16,331 units of Renault Twizy were sold.