Renault-Nissan Alliance Owns 58% Of Global EV Market

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Originally published on Planetsave.

With 58% of the global zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) market, there’s a strong argument to be made that the Renault-Nissan Alliance is the top electric vehicle manufacturer in the world, and the world leader has just passed its 200,000th electric vehicle (EV) sale. Renault and Nissan EV drivers have now driven approximately 4 billion kilometers, far enough to circle the earth 100,000 times. In total, they have prevented the need for approximately 200 liters of fuel. For some perspective, that’s enough liquid to fill ~80 Olympic swimming pools. These drivers and their EVs also prevented the emission of 450 million kilograms of CO2 (assuming they drove the same number of kilometers they would have driven in an average gasmobile).

Nissan LEAF Leadership

Leading the pack for the Renault-Nissan Alliance and the entire electric vehicle market is the best-selling Nissan LEAF. And lest many forget, the LEAF was the first truly mass-market electric vehicle (not counting electric vehicles of the early 20th century). It won 2011 World Car of the Year, European Car of the Year 2011, and Car of the Year Japan 2011–2012.

The Nissan LEAF will definitely be the top-selling electric vehicle in the US in 2014. In Europe, it looks like the Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in will be #1 and the LEAF will be #2, but the LEAF is solidly set to be the top-selling pure-electric vehicle.

In the US, LEAF sales are up 35% compared to 2013, and it has seen 21 consecutive record sales months. ~67,000 Nissan LEAFs have been sold in the US since launch. In Japan, that number is 46,500, and in Europe, it’s 31,000.

Last but not least, the LEAF has the highest customer satisfaction rating of any Nissan vehicle.

Renault Deserves Some Love, Too

Renault electric vehicles, while not being sold almost anywhere else, do quite well in Europe. Like its cousin (the LEAF), the Renault ZOE has the highest satisfaction rating of Renault’s global product lineup.

“In October, Renault regained the number one EV position in Europe with a market share of 31%. ZOE was the most popular vehicle with a 23% market share,” the Renault-Nissan Alliance states.

Based in France, Renault has sold 51,500 electric vehicles worldwide (not that far behind Nissan, to be fair) since the Renault Kangoo ZE was introduced to the market in October 2011. Named the International Van of the Year 2012, the electric van led the way in this market segment. “Renault recently delivered its 5,000th Kangoo Z.E. to La Poste, France’s national postal service and operator of the country’s largest corporate fleet,” the Alliance states. “An additional 5,000 units will be delivered in the coming years.”

The two-seat Renault Twizy, a very fun vehicle to drive, has also done well in Europe.

Renault + Nissan

Renault & Nissan have together sold 20% more electric vehicles in 2014 through the first week of November (~66,500) than the same period in 2013.

Electric vehicles in the duo’s lineup, if you weren’t keeping track above, include the Nissan LEAF, Renault ZOE, Renault Twizy, Nissan e-NV200, Renault Kangoo ZE, and Renault Fluence ZE.

“To capture what the first 200,000 consumers love about their electric vehicles, the Renault-Nissan Alliance is launching a series of videos featuring EV owners on three continents,” a Renault-Nissan Alliance press release states.

“I Made the Switch” tells why people bought their electric vehicles and how switching to a zero-emission vehicle has changed their lives. The first video features Chris Beers, a software engineer from Holliston, Massachusetts, USA, one of many Americans who powers his Nissan LEAF with clean solar energy.

Head on over to the Renault-Nissan Alliance site to check out that video and future ones.

Related: 8 Reasons Electric Cars Kick Your Car’s Boot

Images by Zachary Shahan | EV Obsession | CleanTechnica (CC BY-SA 4.0 license)

Reprinted with permission.