The proliferation of electric vehicles across Europe has allowed analysts to determine which brands are pumping out the least emissions, and it will come as no surprise as to which brand is leading the way.

JATO Dynamics worked out their low emission rankings by rating the brands entire range of cars, whether EV, PHEV or ICE and also looked at the vehicle’s sales across the region and with a No.1 ranking of 0.0g/km for the region Tesla led the way. It’s a fairly impressive feat, but then that’s Tesla’s unique selling point and helped them to sales of 169,200 across Europe.

Renault comes second in the rankings with an emissions average of 86.7g/km, thanks in part to the prolific sales of the Zoe. Hyundai picked up the final place on the podium, with impressive increases of 26% in their BEV and 246% in their PHEV vehicles.

Elsewhere across the report there was mixed news, with SUVs continuing to be popular, which in some senses adds to the emissions output, however, almost half of the new EVs in Europe were actually SUVs, so it is balancing out.

“The popularity of SUVs has had a mixed impact on CO2 emissions in Europe. On the one hand, SUVs are usually bigger and heavier than hatchbacks, sedans, and wagons, leading to a higher level of emissions output,” said Felipe Munoz, global analyst at JATO Dynamics.

“However, they have seen more progress in reducing CO2 emissions than any other segment, thanks to arrival of more electric and plug-in hybrid SUVs.”

With EU legislation forcing more manufacturers to produce zero emissions vehicles, the average emissions output for all vehicles fell by 16 per cent to 99g/km. That could fall even further this year with the news that brands are prioritising EV manufacture in the light of continuing supply-chain issues.

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