Germany overtakes US in new electric car registrations

Stuttgart (dpa) – Germany saw an electric car and plug-in hybrid boom last year, according to an analysis that puts the boom partly down to subsidies of up to 9,000 euros (10,600 dollars).

The country has replaced the United States as the second-biggest market for electric cars, according to a Tuesday report from the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Wuerttemberg (ZSW).

China remains the world’s biggest market for the industry, with 1.25 million new registrations in 2020 – more than a third of the global 3.18 million.

But its share is sinking. While the Chinese market only grew by 3 per cent, worldwide it went up by 38 per cent.

This was driven primarily by Europe and led by Germany, which reported a 264 per cent boost to almost 395,000 cars – the strongest growth overall, according to ZSW.

Europe as a whole – including the EU, Britain, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland – saw 134 per cent growth and more car registrations than China at 1.37 million.

After China and Germany, the US is the third-biggest market, with 322,000 newly registered electric cars and plug-in hybrids in the last year – followed by France with 195,000, Britain with 175,000 and Norway with 108,000.

Spots seven to ten are occupied by Sweden with 94,000, the Netherlands with 88,000, Italy with 60,000 and Canada with 53,000.

“The electric car market is showing promising development in many countries, especially in the European Union,” says Frithjof Staiss, a ZSW executive board member.

But he attributes this to higher subsidy rates and other measures such as lower value added tax in Germany and says these incentives need to be converted to market-driven growth.

At the end of the year there were 10.9 million electric cars and plug-in hybrids on the streets. By the ZSW’s count, almost half are in China – 5 million – and 1.77 million are in the US.
Germany has some 569,000, putting it far from its target of 7 to 10 million by 2030.

“For that, Germany must register around one million new electric cars on average every year,” Staiss said.

And he assumes that the EU’s new climate goals will require even more electric vehicles. “The success of last year is just the beginning.”

The German automotive industry did well last year, as shown by data from the 19 largest markets for electric cars and plug-in hybrids.

On the production level, Tesla is still ahead with almost 500,000 new registrations, but Volkswagen Group is catching up with 422,000 and a jump from sixth to second place. BMW Group is in fourth with 193,000 and Daimler in sixth with 163,000.

China takes the third and fifth places with carmarkers SAIC and BYD respectively.

“The successful catching up of German manufacturers when it comes to newly registered electric cars shows that they are on the right path,” ZSW board member Markus Hoelze said.

“Despite that, the domestic automotive industry needs to make even greater efforts to keep up with the world’s best in the long term.”
Hybrids that cannot be charged from the power grid and fuel cell vehicles were not included in the analysis.

Fuel cell cars play only a small role according to ZSW – worldwide 9,000 were registered, bringing the number up to 28,000.