It’s no secret that Americans are embracing electric cars. But new data show that increasingly Europeans are too.
Sales of battery-powered cars soared 38 percent in the first quarter after models including Renault SA’s improved Zoe won buyers in Germany and Spain. That compares with a gain of 2.9 percent for all of last year.
New registrations—a proxy for sales—for battery-powered cars increased in the first quarter to 32,627 from 23,703 in the EU, Norway and Switzerland, the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association said Thursday in a statement. That surge still couldn’t match demand in America, where electric car sales jumped 49 percent to 40,700 units in the period, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. (The U.S. car market is some 16 percent larger than Europe’s.)