BYD's success in the EU comes despite the economic bloc's imposition of punitive tariffs on battery electric vehicles made in China last October.BYD sold more pure battery electric vehicles in Europe than Tesla for the first time ever last month — a "watershed moment" for the region's car market,

When you look at sales at the brand level, things get a little worse for the American automaker. Volkswagen sold more EVs than anyone else in Europe last month, increasing by 61 percent to 23,514 units. As for Tesla? It fell to 11th place, with just 7,165 sales in total, a 49 percent decrease year on year.

Despite the EU's imposition of tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, registrations of such cars increased 59% in April from a year earlier.