EV registrations in Germany stabilising again after drop following scrapped support scheme – analysis

The market for electric vehicles in Germany has recovered significantly throughout 2025 following a drop in the previous year, the German Energy Agency (dena) has found in a new analysis. About 490,000 new battery electric vehicles were registered across the country by the end of November, an increase of 41 percent compared to 2024. This helped battery EVs to reach a share of over 4 percent of the entire existing car fleet in the country, the agency said. At the same time, new registrations of plug-in hybrid vehicles grew 63 percent to 281,000 vehicles.

“Nearly one in five newly registered cars was a purely electric one – and this was without any purchase support,” commented dena head Kristina Haverkamp. A federal purchase premium scheme that was intended to spur sales of EVs was ended by the previous government in late 2023 due to budget constraints, which had initially led to a collapse of sales. The new government, meanwhile, has decided new support schemes that will only take effect in 2026.

German carmakers dominated EV sales in the country, with four out of the five best-selling car brands coming from the Volkswagen group. “While Chinese brands are gaining in relevance, they currently rather occupy a position in the lower midfield in Germany when it comes to registration figures,” dena said.  

With about 715,000 new vehicles on the road, petrol-fuelled cars continued to represent the bulk of new registrations in 2025, even if the figure dropped 22 percent compared to the previous year. At the same time, another 368,000 diesel-powered cars were registered, 19 percent less than in 2024. However, dena concluded that “the balance shift from combustion engine cars towards more sustainable propulsion system has been initiated” and would be sustained by new support schemes.

Germany is under pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector, an aim for which a further boost in EV registrations is seen as indispensable. However, the government of chancellor Friedrich Merz has firmly rejected an EU decision effectively banning new registrations of combustion engine cars by 2035 - along with other member states like Italy, Czechia and Poland. In a letter recently sent to the European Commission, Merz argued that combustion engines and synthetic fuels must continue to play a role in the sector’s transformation.

Following months of debate across the EU about improving the competitiveness of the European automotive industry, the European Commission is scheduled to make proposals for policy changes on 16 December, likely including a reform of car emissions limits. It is unclear what the institution will present, and any reform would still have to be negotiated by member state governments and the European Parliament. 

Following a meeting with Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, Manfred Weber, head of the largest political group in the European Parliament, the conservative European People’s Party, told tabloid Bild that the Commission would propose to scrap the 2035 ban. The policymaker hailing from Germany’s Christian Social Union (CSU), the sister party of chancellor Merz’s Christian Democrats (CDU), said that the rules would aim to reduce emissions in newly registered cars by only 90 percent instead of 100 percent. Neither would there be a full ban in 2040, Weber said. Asked for confirmation, the European Commission’s chief spokesperson Paula Pinho told Euractiv only that internal discussions were ongoing.