Number of electric cars on German roads approaches 2 million

The number of purely electric cars on Germany’s roads looks set to climb above 2 million by the end of the year. By the start of October, the fleet of battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) reached 1.93 million, an increase of around 94,000 within 3 months, according to the official central vehicle register.

The share of purely electric cars in the country’s entire fleet has risen to nearly 4 percent, with the total number of cars standing at around 49.6 million. In addition to purely electric cars, Germany had 4.18 million hybrid cars, including 1.09 million plug-ins at the start of October. Petrol cars numbered 29.5 million, diesel cars 13.6 million.

Germany crossed the threshold of 1 million electric cars three years ago.

The country’s previous government had aimed for 15 million electric cars by 2030, but that number is no longer considered realistic because it would require nearly all registrations of new cars to be electric over the coming five years. Between January and October, 435,000 purely electric cars were newly registered, a share of 18.4 percent.

The current government no longer has a target for the number of electric cars on German roads, but remains committed to supporting their rollout with direct purchasing subsidies and support to expand the charging infrastructure.

At the end of last week, the government agreed to spend three billion euros on a new scheme to support electric mobility adoption among low- and middle-income groups, including purchase and leasing support. At the same time, the coalition of chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservatives and the Social Democrats agreed to push the EU to soften its 2035 deadline for new combustion car registrations.