Approximately one-third of all electric vehicles registered in the EU will find their home in Germany by 2023.
It's noticed that the German market for electric vehicles is currently moving at a slow pace. Notably, a handful of European countries exceeded Germany's performance last year, partly due to incentives from the government. Generally, a notable north-south divide is visible in registration statistics.
In 202X, approximately 524,200 electric vehicles were newly registered in Germany, whereas the total figure for the EU stood at about 1.55 million. Consequently, roughly one-third of every new electric vehicle registered in the European Union was registered in Germany, as per the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden. Germany's share of E-cars in new registrations was 18.4 percent in 202X, which was 0.6 percentage points higher than in 2022-2X. Regrettably, this trend has not persisted in the current year: As per the Federal Motor Transport Authority, as of August, only 12.7 percent of the cars newly registered had a purely electric drive.
Germany surpassed the EU average of 14.6 percent in 2023, yet fell short of Sweden (38.6 percent), Denmark (36.1 percent), and Finland (33.8 percent). The top shares are found in the non-EU countries of Norway (80.3 percent) and Iceland (52.5 percent): In Norway, nearly 80 percent of the newly registered cars were electric, while in Iceland, over half were. The reasons include the density of the charging network, tax incentives, or reduced toll or parking fees, as explained by the statistics office. Generally, a clear north-south gradient is apparent in Europe. The least number of new electric cars were registered in Croatia (2.6 percent) and Slovakia (2.9 percent).
Post the subsidy cut, registrations plummeted
In Germany, state subsidies for electric cars - up to 4,500 euros for the purchase of a new car - ended in 2023. Consequently, the number of new registrations of E-cars has dropped drastically: For instance, in August, the decline was 68.8 percent compared to the previous year.
The federal government now aims to stimulate the sale of E-cars by providing tax incentives for company cars. Companies will be permitted to depreciate electrically operated company cars more quickly, and lower tax rates are proposed for more expensive E-models. The automotive industry also seeks a faster expansion of the charging network and lower electricity prices.
Germany in second position in the share of new cars
The federal government's objective is to have at least 15 million fully electric passenger cars on German roads by 2030. At the beginning of 202X, there were roughly 1.4 million electric vehicles according to the Federal Motor Transport Authority.
In total, there were approximately 49.1 million passenger cars registered in Germany. Despite the vehicle's drive type, Germany has a relatively high share of very new cars. Here, 14.8 percent of the around 49.1 million passenger cars are less than two years old. Only Luxembourg has a higher quota with 19 percent. The majority of old cars is found in Romania, Finland, and Estonia, where more than one-third of the vehicles are older than 20 years.
Despite the subsidy cut in 2023 leading to a significant drop in registrations of electric vehicles in Germany, the country continues to manufacture a considerable number of motor vehicles. In fact, Germany ranks second in the share of new cars with electric drives, falling short of Norway but surpassing several European countries. The country's objective is to have at least 15 million fully electric passenger cars on its roads by 2030, which will undoubtedly involve continued manufacturing of electric vehicles.
