VW ID.3 was Europe's best-selling EV in October

The Volkswagen ID.3 hatch is now Europe's best-selling electric vehicle, with the German car-maker shifting 10,475 units last month.

In second place, the Renault ZOE continued to perform well in a COVID-stricken marketplace, selling 9778 units, while the Hyundai Kona Electric came in third with 5262 registrations.

The Tesla Model 3, which is Australia's top-selling EV, dropped out of Europe's top 10 entirely.

We've driven the Volkswagen ID.3 but it's not expected to reach Australia until 2022 and may not be the German brand's first EV here. It's looking like the Volkswagen ID.4 SUV will be the first, which is expected to be the most popular model in the ID sub-brand Down Under.

In Europe, October marked the second month in a row that pure-electric cars outsold diesels, whose share has now slumped to 26.3 per cent.

Strong sales in the Netherlands, where for every single Model 3 sold there were three examples of the ID.3 driving out of showrooms, played a big part in Volkswagen's surge in EV sales last month, while in Norway VW's electric hatch accounted for an incredible 19 per cent of all new car sales.

Tesla is set to be more competitive in the sales rankings in November due to the US car-maker's shipping schedule for Europe.

A stronger November could help Tesla hold onto its second place in the European EV sales chart. So far this year, the Renault ZOE has racked up 71,521 registrations, while the Model 3 has sold 56,108.

As well as EVs, sales of electrified vehicles as a whole in Europe are soaring. Of last month's total 1,127,624 registrations, 26.8 per cent featured some sort of electrified powertrain, up from just 7.0 per cent in October 2019.

Out of those, unsurprisingly, the most affordable mild-hybrid powertrains were dominant, making up 32 per cent of that number.