[From 31 May] Electric vehicle (EV) sales figures for the European market during the month of April 2015 are now in, and things are looking good. The continent had its third best month ever with regard to total EV sales — seeing a 40% growth rate as compared against April 2014.

Altogether, roughly 11,500 electric vehicles — this includes plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) of course — were registered during the month of April in the European market. This means that EVs now make up roughly 1% of the total new vehicle market. Not bad. EVs and PHEVs certainly have come quite some way over the last few years. It’s hard to say for sure, but they certainly do seem to be on the verge of a breakout from niche status — though perhaps those sorts of changes are more a generational thing, and still a few years off?

EV Europe Sales April 2015With regard to April 2015 sales, the Renault Zoe and the Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In were nearly tied at the top of the units sold list — with 1,728 units sold and 1,700 units sold, respectively. Following quite a ways behind those two was the Volkswagen e-Golf — with 1,022 units sold. In fourth, the Nissan LEAF was still going strong — with 978 units sold. Tesla did pretty well as well, with sales of 856 units during April.

Read more: Clean Technica