Will the e-car boom in Germany come to an end in 2023?

Germany has risen to become the largest sales market for new e-cars after China. But sales could soon halve, a new study predicts.

The boom in electric cars in Germany could soon come to an end. The growth of pure electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrids (PHEV) is already slowing down noticeably. The growth rate is currently at 4.5 per cent after 73 per cent in the previous year. In 2023 and 2024, the market is even expected to shrink significantly. This is the forecast of the CentRE Automotive Research (CAR) in a new study.

According to the study, sales of pure electric cars and plug-in hybrids will halve in the next two years. Instead of 720,000 new cars with batteries, the industry will only be able to deliver 484,000 vehicles in 2023 and only 363,000 units in 2024. The market share of electric cars, measured in terms of new registrations, could plummet from currently 27 to twelve per cent.