Chinese electric vehicle sales fell 6% year over year in April, contributing to weaker growth worldwide, Jefferies said in a note Wednesday.

Plug-in hybrid EV sales plunged 24% year over year, while that of battery-operated EVs jumped 4% year over year.

In the battery EV segment, Li Auto's (HKG:2015) market share increased 4.1% while that of Zhejiang Leapmotor (HKG:9863) jumped 2.9%.

BYD's (HKG:1211, SHE:002594) market share fell 4.5% while that of Geely (HKG:0175) slid 3.9% year over year.

Electric vehicle penetration surged 830 basis points year over year to 61%.

EV sales across Europe, the U.S., and China slipped 0.5% year over year. Market share rose 2.5 percentage points to 33.1%, impacted by a 19% slide in Chinese market share.