Chinese carmaker BYD dominates sales of electric vehicles in 2016

The manufacturer with the most sales of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids worldwide last year is not Tesla or Renault-Nissan, but rather Chinese manufacturer BYD. The latter tops EV and PHEV global sales for the second consecutive year.

BYD sold 100,178 electrified vehicles last year. Of these, 46,905 were 100% electric models while the rest were plug-in hybrid vehicles. The Shenzhen-based manufacturer offers two plug-in hybrid vehicles (the Qin and the Tang) and three purely electric vehicles (Qin EV, E5 and E6).

By way of comparison, Tesla recorded 76,230 units of the Tesla Model S and the new Model X in 2016.