The trend toward electric vehicles in Germany continued in April. The number of newly registered electric cars rose by 41.3 percent compared to the same month last year, reaching over 64,000, as announced by the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) in Flensburg on Thursday. Their market share thus stands significantly ahead of that of gasoline-powered cars and just a few percentage points behind that of hybrid vehicles.
At 25.8 percent, more than one in four newly registered cars in April was a purely electric vehicle. Hybrids, totaling just over 70,000 units, captured a market share of 28.1 percent. The number of new gasoline-powered cars slumped by 20 percent compared to the previous year, securing a market share of 21.4 percent.
For diesel vehicles, following a 13.8 percent decline in volume, a market share of 13.0 percent remained. The KBA also recorded a noticeable increase in plug-in hybrids; these grew by 13.3 percent to reach a market share of 11.1 percent.
Overall, the new car market saw only moderate growth in April, rising by 2.7 percent. In March, the number of new registrations had grown by 16 percent. Over the first four months of the year, this amounts to a growth of 4.5 percent.
“However, this growth is attributable solely to the sharp increase in new registrations of electric cars,” explained the consulting firm EY. And this, in turn, is primarily due to the new electric vehicle subsidy. This is evident, for instance, when looking at the trends in private versus commercial new registrations: “While new registrations by private individuals practically exploded in March—rising by 123 percent—new registrations by companies increased by only 48 percent.”
“The state—and, by extension, taxpayers—is spending several billion euros to boost electric vehicle sales,” explained EY expert Constantin Gall. “The result—much like with previous subsidy programs—is strong growth in EV sales that lasts exactly as long as the incentives are being paid. Once the subsidies expire, electric vehicle sales will plummet again.”
AFP translated by Blackout News