Electric cars aren't booming everywhere: that's why they're much more popular in the south than in the east

Created: 05/18/2022, 06:07

By: Marcus Efler

The demand for electric cars is unbroken - albeit with strong regional differences.

Above all, the East despises the Stromer.

Berlin – High fuel prices and the innovation premium make it possible: sales of plug-in cars increased sharply last year.

The Federal Motor Transport Authority registered 681,410 new registrations of eligible electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids in 2021, of which just over half were purely electric cars.

Despite long delivery times, which ultimately jeopardize production, interest is unbroken.

But this is by no means evenly distributed within Germany: There is a strong regional gap in the demand for electric vehicles.

Above all, the difference between southern and eastern Germany is striking.

Measured against the number of inhabitants, motorists and companies in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg buy around twice as many pure electric cars or plug-in hybrids as in eastern Germany.

This is revealed by a study by the ICCT (International Council on Clean Transportation).

For its survey, the non-profit organization evaluated the registrations of the year 2020, in which almost 400,000 (partly) electric cars were newly registered nationwide.

In the southern West German states, the researchers counted around six new registrations of cars with electric motors per 1,000 inhabitants.

In Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, on the other hand, there were only three on average, i.e. about half.

Electromobility is particularly popular in southern Germany.

(Iconic image) © Christoph Dernbach/dpa

Some districts in southern Germany, such as Emmendingen in Baden-Württemberg and Rhön-Grabfeld in Bavaria, stand out in particular: Here, one in three buys a car that they can (also) drive with battery power.

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Electric cars aren't booming everywhere: higher salaries mean more electric cars

The experts thought they could find several reasons for this.

In the electric boom regions, for example, the (rather patchy) charging infrastructure is more dense than in the east.

The higher per capita income in the two western German states could also play a role.

Likewise, the environmental awareness there is apparently more pronounced: the more people vote for the Greens (according to the share of votes in the last election to the EU Parliament), the higher the proportion of electric cars.

To even out the gap, the organization proposes subsidies for older used electric cars as well, as well as continued support for private and public charging stations.