Nissan has reported fast-rising EV fleet sales in the last year, underlining a shift among companies to electric vehicles.

Nissan saw year-on-year growth of 65% in battery electric vehicle (BEV) fleet sales in the 2020 financial year

Its data for the 2020 financial year shows year-on-year growth of 65% in battery electric vehicle (BEV) fleet sales; up to 6,311 from 3,824 for the 2019 financial year.

The rise helped Nissan increase its share of the UK’s true fleet market from 4.06% to 4.46%. More than 25% of the carmaker’s true fleet sales were BEVs in 2020, against a market average of 12.1%.

The Leaf retained its position as the fifth best-selling passenger EV in true fleet while the e-NV200 electric LCV was the best-selling electric vehicle.

And its data shows nine of the 10 largest fleets in the country purchased a Nissan EV in the past year.

The carmaker said much of its recent fleet success is down to demand from public sector organisations for electric motoring, with demand up 37% in 2020. Meanwhile, sales to SMEs via Nissan Finance rose 68%.

Nissan has also significantly strengthened the structure of its fleet department in 2020. Andrea Patti, Liz Redmayne and Alex Edmond all joined the operation from other roles within the company, joining an established management team led by fleet director Peter McDonald and including national fleet dealer manager Marco Capozzoli and national broker manager Kevin Childs.

Peter McDonald said: ‘‘The strong results we achieved in 2020 are testament to Nissan’s pioneering early investment in electric vehicles. With LEAF and e-NV200, we’re already on our second-generation EVs, just as other brands launch their first.

‘‘We’re delighted to be playing a supporting role in helping our customers decarbonise their operations.’’