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Got an e-car, looking for a charging station: the number of battery-powered cars rose sharply in 2020
Photo: Manuel Geisser / imago images
In Germany, significantly more electric cars came onto the streets last year than in the previous year.
394,940 purely electric cars and plug-in hybrids were newly registered in 2020, according to the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA).
In 2019 there were only 108,629.
Almost half of the new registrations (194,163 units) were purely electrically powered vehicles.
According to KBA, this corresponds to an increase of 206 percent.
When it comes to battery-electric vehicles, most buyers turned to VW, followed by Renault and Tesla.
This means that around 13.5 percent of all newly registered cars in 2020 had an externally rechargeable battery drive under the hood - almost one in seven.
In the previous year it was a good three percent.
The share rose so strongly because fewer cars were sold overall.
The German manufacturers assume that the market collapsed by a fifth during the Corona crisis.
Most e-cars are small cars - and not SUVs
The German government is relying on electric cars in the fight against climate change.
The federal government and the manufacturer subsidize the purchase with up to 9,000 euros net, for plug-in hybrids it is up to 6750 euros.
The goal set by the federal government of seven to ten million registered electric vehicles by 2030 could be achieved with such growth, said President Richard Damm.
However, it has proven to be a myth that electric cars are mostly heavy SUVs.
According to KBA, the strongest segment for e-cars with battery-electric drive was small cars - with a share of 29.9 percent.
SUVs with battery-electric drives accounted for almost 20 percent.
The compact class achieved 19.6 percent.
In the case of cars with internal combustion engines, however, SUVs have recently been the strongest segment.
Despite the boom in e-cars, vehicles with alternative drives (including natural gas cars) are still clearly in the minority on the road.
Their share in the portfolio rose from 2.4 to 3.6 percent, according to estimates by the office.
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ene / nis / dpa
