How quickly electric cars will prevail on the market mainly depends on the public charging network. The energy association BDEW sees significant progress here and demands climate-oriented purchase premiums.
Berlin (dpa) - The number of publicly accessible charging points for electric cars continues to increase. As the energy association BDEW announced, there are currently 27,730 such charging points in a register. At the end of 2019 there were 23,840 charging points, an increase of more than 16 percent. A dense charging network is considered a key challenge for a breakthrough for electric cars on the mass market.
With a view to the "auto summit" of the federal government and the industry, BDEW general manager Kerstin Andreae said that the energy industry is a key player in order to make the traffic turnaround successful. It is important that the European Union adhere to the CO2 fleet limit values that have been decided. Purchase bonuses should continue to be based on the fact that they provide incentives for switching to climate-friendly vehicles.
According to the association, the approximately 27,700 public charging points are sufficient for around 440,000 electrically powered vehicles. Around 280,000 electric cars and plug-in hybrids are currently registered in Germany. The nationwide coverage is very good.
Number of applications for purchase premium for electric cars crashes
After the record came the crash: The number of applications for the state purchase premium for electric cars and plug-in hybrids fell massively in April. At 6483, the number of new applications was only around half as high as the record in March, according to figures published on Tuesday by the responsible Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA) in Eschborn.
In particular, 3659 applications were made for purely electric cars with battery drives, 2822 for plug-in hybrids and 2 for fuel cell cars. The purchase bonus is intended to promote the sale of cars with electrified drives. The state now gives up to 3000 euros for purely electric cars with batteries or fuel cells, and up to 2250 euros for plug-in hybrids. In addition, the automakers must grant a discount of at least the same amount.
Since the start of the funding program in summer 2016, a total of 198,321 applications have been received. Most were for BMW brand vehicles with 29,180, followed by Renault with 24,861 and VW with 24,696.
