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Electric cars like this Renault Zoe are becoming increasingly popular
Photo: Carsten Rehder / dpa
The share of electric cars among EU new registrations has tripled within a year.
In the second quarter, 7.2 percent of all new registrations were electric cars, as the European industry association Acea announced.
In the same period of the previous year, the proportion was 2.4 percent.
During the corona pandemic, the number of new registrations fell sharply overall - but this development mainly affected diesel and gasoline engines, with these two segments still accounting for more than 80 percent of car sales.
Between April and June, sales of cars with conventional internal combustion engines fell by more than half.
The number of newly registered electrically powered cars in the EU developed in the opposite direction: the numbers increased by more than 50 percent compared to the previous year.
Long delivery times could delay the corona effect
Since mid-February, buyers of electric cars have been receiving a bonus that is financed by the federal government and the auto industry in Germany. At the same time, the vehicles are becoming cheaper and their ranges increase.
However, buying a Stromer is often associated with waiting.
For example, the delivery time for some electric cars is longer than for combustion engines, which is why the corona crisis may not have had so much impact on such models.
In addition, from this year on, stricter limit values apply to fleet emissions of the climate-damaging exhaust gas carbon dioxide (CO2) in the EU.
If manufacturers fail to meet the requirements, expensive penalties could result.
This is why car manufacturers are striving to increase the proportion of low-emission cars.
But they don't just rely on pure electric cars.
Controversial plug-in hybrids are becoming increasingly popular
The best-selling type of vehicle with an alternative drive remains the hybrid electric vehicle despite a slight decline.
Its share of all new registrations in the EU in the second quarter was 9.6 percent above that of all-electric cars.
The plug-in hybrids, which are heavily subsidized in Germany, are only climate-friendly to a limited extent.
According to the Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), the CO2 emissions of the hybrids equipped with an externally rechargeable battery are significantly higher than stated.
In the DUH test, a Porsche Cayenne emitted 429 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer in sport mode and 224 grams in normal mode.
Both are well above the stated limit of 90 grams per kilometer.
At the same time, according to a study by the Center of Automotive Management (CAM), plug-in hybrids contribute significantly more to the growth of electromobility in Germany than battery vehicles.
"However, the automobile manufacturers and the federal government must ensure that the plug-in hybrids not only make a positive contribution to the climate on paper, but also on the road," warns CAM director Stefan Bratzel.
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ene / dpa
