As of: January 29, 2024, 4:51 a.m
By: Fabian Hartmann
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Electric cars sold significantly fewer in 2023 than in the previous year.
Combustion engines in particular could benefit from the crisis in the industry.
Munich - As part of the traffic light coalition's climate goals, at least 15 million electric cars should be on Germany's roads by 2030.
However, some experts believe that achieving this is not very realistic given the current situation in the electric car industry.
According to the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA), 524,219 electric cars (BEVs) were newly registered in Germany last year.
With a share of 18 percent of all new registrations, this is more than in any year before.
However, compared to 2022, the rapid pace of new electric car registrations has weakened.
In addition, there are still comparatively few electric cars on the road nationwide, with only 1.5 million of a total of 48.7 million vehicles.
Electric car industry in crisis – canceled environmental bonus “does not allow any favorable development to be expected”
What may not be apparent at first glance from the record number of newly registered electric cars is that the industry has been in crisis for several months.
As a result of the abolition of funding for commercial electric cars, sales figures collapsed in September last year and have only recovered slowly since then.
The federal government's cancellation of the environmental bonus to promote electric cars in December 2023 is also likely to be in this vein.
This did not yet affect the sales figures for December, as environmental bonus applications submitted before December 17th still remained valid.
However, “no favorable development can be expected” for the new year, predicts the ADAC.
Car manufacturers are already feeling the consequences of this.
For example, the electric car company Lucid Group announced in January that the number of deliveries and production in the fourth quarter of 2023 fell compared to the previous year.
The company's shares then fell to a record low,
Wall Street Online
reported.
Car rental company sells a third of its electric cars - and wants to invest more in combustion engines
But car rental companies are also currently feeling the effects of the crisis in the electric car industry.
The car rental company Hertz, for example, wants to put the brakes on its electric car offering in the future.
Hertz will sell a total of 20,000 electric cars - about a third of the company's own units.
The world's third-largest car rental company in terms of sales wants to use the sales proceeds to buy new combustion engine models.
This means they are adapting to changing demand, Hertz explained to the
Tagesschau
.
Another reason is the high cost of repairing damage to electric cars - according to Hertz, these are about twice as expensive as those for combustion engines.
Hertz's partial withdrawal from the electric car business could indicate a larger decline in interest in electric car mobility, says Ferdinand Dudenhöffer from the Bochum Center Automotive Research (CAR).
“A wave against electric cars is building up when landlords, leasing companies, dealers and ultimately used car buyers become unsettled,” he told the trade magazine
Automobilwoche
.
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Sales figures for combustion engines could benefit from the electric car crisis
The auto industry is currently trying to counteract the crisis in the electric car industry - it is currently doing this primarily in the form of price discounts.
However, these are neither durable for manufacturers for a long period of time nor are they profitable.
“Selling electric cars at these prices brings significant losses for mass manufacturers such as VW, Opel, Peugeot, Fiat or Ford,” explained Dudenhöffer in an interview with the
Bild
newspaper.
In addition, used electric cars are currently being passed on mercilessly in the recycling chain.
From the expert's point of view, this can inevitably lead to nothing other than losses.
Additionally, individuals considering purchasing an electric car may be hesitant given their extremely uncertain performance.
Electric car at a charging station © IMAGO/Michael Gstettenbauer
The crisis in the electric car industry and the decline in buying interest as a result of the canceled environmental bonus make experts doubt the future of the industry.
With a view to the market mechanisms, he fears that sales figures for combustion engines could continue to benefit from the dwindling interest in electric cars in the near future.
“As soon as someone advertises cars with combustion engines again and is successful, the other manufacturers will follow suit,” Dudenhöffer summarized to the
Bild
newspaper.
(Fabian Hartmann)