COBURG (dpa-AFX) - The pace of changeover to electric cars in Germany has halved since the federal government's purchase premium was stopped, according to an analysis by HUK Coburg. In the fourth quarter of last year, the number of pure e-cars only increased by 0.1 percent compared to the previous quarter, the lowest figure since the end of 2020. A year ago, e-car growth was still at 0.2 percent.
Only just under four out of a hundred opt for an electric car
According to figures from the Federal Motor Transport Authority, just under 1.6 million fully electric cars were registered in Germany in October 2024. The outgoing coalition government had actually wanted to put 15 million fully electric cars on the roads by 2030, but in December 2023 it had stopped the so-called environmental bonus for electric cars due to its budget situation.
The new edition of the annual "E-Barometer" from HUK is based on the company's own database, which makes it the market leader in this sector in Germany, with almost 13 million vehicles insured.
According to the report, in the final quarter of last year, only just under four out of a hundred car owners opted for an all-electric car when purchasing another vehicle – whether new or used – the rate was 3.9 percent. At the beginning of 2023, it was still almost seven percent. The figures refer to purely electric cars in private ownership, cars registered by companies and car rental companies are not included.
Starnberg leads
The record holder for switching to e-cars was not a big city, but the very wealthy district of Starnberg just outside Munich, with a rate of 8 percent last year. Several other districts also had above-average proportions of e-cars. According to HUK, this could be because there are more single-family homes with private charging stations in rural areas than in large cities. But the development in the 20 largest German cities is not uniform either: according to the study, the highest conversion rate in 2024 was in Frankfurt at 4 percent, and the lowest in Dresden at 2.3 percent.
A large proportion of the population has not yet driven an electric car
Apart from that, electric cars continue to divide opinions, according to the accompanying survey: 45 percent rated electric cars "good" or "very good", 47 percent rated them "less good" or even "not good at all". Personal attitudes are therefore very much shaped by one's own experience: people who have never owned or driven an electric car gave a significantly worse assessment on average than those with e-car experience – and the group that has not come into contact with electric cars so far made up the vast majority (68 percent).
"Acceptance depends on personal experience"
By contrast, the majority of the 30 percent who have driven or own an electric car gave a positive assessment; among owners, the figure was as high as 82 percent. The survey institute Yougov questioned a good 4,100 participants aged 16 and over in November. "The key to the acceptance and spread of electric cars in Germany obviously depends on personal experience," commented HUK board member Jorg Rheinländer./cho/DP/zb