New registrations are collapsing
Germans are losing interest in electric cars
April 4, 2024, 3:16 p.m
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The federal government’s goal is ambitious, and it is taking a hit: in March the number of new registrations of electric cars fell by almost 30 percent. The expired funding is to blame, say experts. Transport Minister Wissing still believes that 15 million vehicles will roll through Germany in 2030.
The new car market in Germany went into reverse gear in March and things are currently looking bleak for electric drives in particular: As the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) announced, new electric vehicle registrations fell by almost 29 percent and only reached a share of 11. 9 percent of new registrations – after 18.3 percent in the same month last year. The government is still sticking to its goal of 15 million electric cars by 2030.
“The demand for electric cars is currently very weak – despite the high discounts that many manufacturers have given to compensate for the loss of the environmental bonus,” said Constantin Gall, an expert at the EY management consultancy, commenting on the figures. The political decision to let the funding expire last year “led to considerable uncertainty in the market.” Customers have begun to doubt the ramp-up of electromobility.
A total of 263,844 cars were newly registered last month, 6.2 percent fewer than a year ago, as the KBA in Flensburg announced. However, the same month last year also had three more working days. According to EY, the market was still 24 percent below the pre-crisis level in 2019.
Gasoline engines remain number one
Gasoline engines continued to account for the largest share of new registrations in March, accounting for 37.8 percent – but that was also a decline of 3.4 percent. This was followed by hybrid vehicles with a share of 31.5 percent and diesel cars with 18.3 percent. Cars that run on liquid gas or natural gas came to 0.5 percent.
The “abrupt termination of the funding of electric vehicles for private owners at the end of 2023” has led to a collapse in demand for electric cars, said the automobile association VDA. Despite the already weak level from the previous year, registrations fell significantly in March.
Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing defended the end of the funding. It is “not a solution to create a permanent market with subsidies,” he said in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin”. Rather, it must be ensured that the automobile market functions on its own in a market economy. The car manufacturers also have a duty to make “attractive price offers”.
The government maintains that there will be around 15 million electric cars on German roads by 2030. This is a “very ambitious goal,” said Wissing, but “the goal we have set ourselves” and for this, the necessary charging infrastructure must now be created. There are currently around 1.5 million electric cars on German roads. The automotive industry also believes that the government’s goal is very difficult to achieve.
The car expert Stefan Bratzel from the Center of Automotive Management in Bergisch Gladbach called the target on ZDF “illusory”. The costs are central – there must be lower purchase prices “that are in line with the combustion engines”.