Renault-Nissan racks up quarter-millionth EV

While we await the final coming of the electric car revolution (praise be to Saint Elon) Renault-Nissan has announced that it has passed a significant milestone - the group as a whole has sold 250,000 electric cars.

That 250,000th car was a Renault Zoe, although it's actually the Nissan Leaf which accounts for the bulk of those sales, racking up 185,000 sales around the world. The Zoe was bought by Yves Nivelle, a computer engineer, who traded in his 21-year-old diesel car for the Renault Zoe. Nivelle bought his EV after the French government introduced an environmental bonus in April to allow owners of older, polluting diesel cars to trade them in and get a rebate of €10,000 on a new EV. "The government's environmental bonus was a big factor in my decision to get an EV," Nivelle said. "But I have to say, I was convinced the first time I drove the car. It's a real pleasure to drive and it feels good to do my part for the environment."

That does seem to show that electric cars still need hefty government subsidies to make them appealing to average car buyers, and the French government is officially chasing electric car sales to replace its ageing national fleet of diesel cars.

With Nissan taking the bulk of those 250,000 sales, there wasn’t much left over for Reanult’s models to pick up. Renault sold the other 65,000 cars of course but isn’t giving a breakdown of individual model sales.

Nevertheless, Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn remains bullish over the €5 billion his company has apparently invested in electric tech. "Demand for our electric vehicles continues to grow thanks to government incentives and the expanding charging infrastructure," said Ghosn. "The positive response of our customers is also driving demand.These vehicles enjoy some of the highest levels of satisfaction rates from our customers around the world."

Here at home, electric cars sales have risen significantly, with 313 EV sales in the first half of 2015 compared to just 122 this time last year. The Leaf is the top-seller here too, with 275 sales so far in 2015, while the Zoe is trailing in a distant second place with 19 sales, just ahead of the BWM i3 with 17 sales. Tesla has so far this year sold just two of its ground-breaking Model S saloons in Ireland, but perhaps with a €100,000 price tag and no official Irish importer yet, we shouldn't be so surprised by that.