Germany had just over 1 million all-electric vehicles in circulation at the end of 2022, after an acceleration last year thanks to purchase bonuses, but still far from the target of 15 million vehicles set by ‘by 2030. The number of electric passenger cars (on the road) “exceeded the one million mark with 1,013,009 units” at the end of last December, according to a statement from the Federal Automobile Agency (KBA). The increase in the fleet is almost two-thirds (63.8%) over one year, driven by a very generous purchase premium before a downward review in January. On plug-in hybrid models, the fleet reached 864,712 cars, an increase of 52.8% over one year, according to the Agency.
The total number of passenger cars remained almost stable (0.2%) with 48.8 million units, because at the same time the number of diesel cars fell by almost 3% and that of models with gasoline by more than 1%, together representing nearly 45 million units. The coalition government around Social Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholz has set itself the goal of seeing 15 million electric cars on German roads by 2030. Some experts, such as Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, director of the Center Automotive Research in Duisburg, doubt that this objective is achieved. Not only will the number of charging stations need to be increased, but the capacity of the electricity grid, which will have to simultaneously supply an increasing number of electric cars and other consumers such as heat pumps at peak times, could become a problem in the long term. In the event of network overload, the supply of charging stations could be rationed by a law under discussion, according to the German press. The German automotive industry, the pillar of Europe’s leading economy, also has a massive need for batteries and their electronic components, which are essential for a successful transition to all-electric and then to autonomous driving. But the current American plan for green subsidies is of considerable concern to the European Union, which fears massive industrial relocations to the United States. The electric car giant Tesla recently assured that it will maintain its automotive battery production projects in its German factory near Berlin, but will relocate part of their manufacturing to the United States because of the aid granted.