European electric and plug-in hybrid sales for Jan to April

When it comes to global electric-car sales, the Renault-Nissan Alliance leads the way.

The conjoined carmakers have sold more electric cars than any others, and the Nissan Leaf is the best-selling electric car in history.

In Europe, the two carmakers have competed for the top spot in battery-electric car sales over the past few months.

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The Renault Zoe was Europe's best-selling electric car last year, but was surpassed by the Leaf in March.

The Leaf managed to stay on top at least through April, according to the running tally of electric-car and plug-in hybrid sales kept by the European Alternative Fuels Observatory (EAFO).

Nissan's electric car achieved 8,058 sales between January and April, maintaining its lead over the Zoe, which managed 7,466 sales.

However, the Leaf's market share also shrank from 13.1 percent in March, to 12.5 percent in April.

The Tesla Model S remained in third place, with 4,166 sales in the first four months of 2016.

As always, it's hard to know how the Tesla figures is calculated, as the company does not release monthly sales results.

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It may be extrapolated from quarterly sales figures, or based on individual country registration data.

The Volkswagen e-Golf and BMW i3 stayed in fourth and fifth place, with 2,918 and 2,056 sales, respectively.

They were followed once again by the Kia Soul EV, which racked up 1,425 sales between January and April.

Interestingly, the seventh-place slot—accounting for 1,051 sales—is listed only as "unknown."

This may refer to miscellaneous models or small neighborhood electric vehicles that sell in quantities too small to warrant month-to-month monitoring.

The Mercedes-Benz B250e landed in eighth place, with 979 sales.

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It was followed by the Volkswagen e-Up (873 sales), an electric version of the VW Up city car that isn't sold in the U.S.

Finally, the Peuegot iOn rounded out the top 10 with 695 sales.

The iOn is a Peugeot-badged version of the Mitsubishi i-MiEV.

The Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid was the best-selling vehicle of its kind for the first four months of 2016.

Through April, it racked up 8,293 sales, and held 12.8 percent of the market.

That's almost double the 4,224 sales of the Volkswagen Golf GTE in the same period, although the Outlander's market share slipped somewhat from the 13.1 percent recorded in March.

The Volvo XC90 T8 "Twin Engine" retained third place with 3,487 sales, followed by the Audi A3 e-tron (2,831 sales) and Volkswagen Passat GTE (2,495 sales).

They were in turn followed by three luxury models: the BMW X5 xDrive 40e SUV (2,073 sales), Mercedes-Benz C350e sedan (1,539 sales), and BMW i3 REx city car (1,406 sales).

The extended-range electric i3 REx is considered a plug-in hybrid for the purposes of the EAFO tally.

The Volvo V60 Twin Engine diesel-electric wagon again came in ninth place, with 1,150 sales.

Finally, the BMW 225xe Active Tourer took the 10th-place spot 1,096 sales.

This front-wheel drive hatchback is unrelated to the 2 Series coupe and convertible sold in the U.S., although its plug-in hybrid powertrain may be appear here in the next-generation MINI Countryman crossover.

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Source: European electric and plug-in hybrid sales for Jan to April