The Alliance says this landmark sale means it now has a leading 58% market share for zero-emission cars

Nov 27, 2014 14:56 GMT  ·  By

In a statement issued this past Wednesday, November 26, the Renault-Nissan Alliance announces that, earlier this month, it sold its 200,000th zero-emission electric car.

The automakers go on to explain that this landmark sale means that, at least for the time being, the Alliance holds a leading 58% share of the market for zero-emission vehicles.

Some might be tempted to pass this piece of news as something not all that important. OK, so Renault and Nissan are making a truckload of money selling zero-emission cars and vans. What does any of it have to do with us regular folks?

The thing is that, the more eco-friendly cars hit roads worldwide, the greener the global fleet gets and the higher the chances to put a leash on climate change and global warming are. This is what makes the announcement worthy of our attention.

The figures speak for themselves

Specialists working closely with the Renault-Nissan Alliance explain that, since the two automakers first got busy selling electric vehicles, their zero-emissions cars have covered an overall distance of about 4 billion kilometers (about 2.5 billion miles).

The fact that the cars covered this distance using electricity as their power source translated into some 80 Olympic-sized swimming pools' worth of fuel being saved, they go on to detail.

In turn, this fuel economy helped keep about 450 million kilograms (roughly 990 million pounds) of carbon dioxide emissions from entering our planet's atmosphere and pushing climate change and global warming into overdrive.

“Renault and Nissan's electric vehicles are the zero-emission volume leaders – and, most importantly, they enjoy high satisfaction rates from customers around the world,” said Carlos Ghosn, chairman and chief executive of the Renault-Nissan Alliance.

“Based on positive owner feedback and the increasing demand for cars that run on renewable energy, it’s no surprise that EV sales are accelerating – particularly in regions where charging infrastructure is well developed,” he added.

Brighter days ahead for the Renault-Nissan Alliance

The automakers explain that, since the beginning of the year, the Alliance has sold some 66,500 zero-emission electric cars and vans. When compared to sales documented during the same period back in 2013, this figure constitutes a 20% increase.

By the looks of it, it's folks in the US and Japan that are especially fond of the Renault-Nissan Alliance’s eco-friendly four-wheelers. Then again, this is probably because these two countries are now home to 750 and 2,900 fast charging stations, respectively.

The Alliance is confident that, soon enough, it will manage to become even more popular. Thus, come mid-2015, the automakers hope to have 1,100 and 6,000 fast charging stations up and running in the US and Japan, respectively.

Mind you, the automakers' green vehicles are fairly popular in Europe as well. In fact, it was earlier this year, in October, that Renault claimed the number one electric vehicle position on this continent with a market share of 31%.

EVs are growing in popularity on a global scale (5 Images)

The Renaul-Nissan Alliance announces the sale of its 200,000th EV
The Renault ZOEThe Nissan LEAF
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