Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2025 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Green Transportation

By the End of the Year, Germany will have a Million Electric Cars on the Road out of 4.7 mn Total

Clean Energy Wire 02/27/2021

Tweet
Share
Reddit
Email

By Sören Amelang | –

Germany will probably reach its target of having one million fully electric or plug-in hybrid cars on the road this year, government advisors have said. The head of the country’s National Platform Future of Mobility (NPM), Henning Kagermann, told business daily Handelsblatt he was pleased “that it appears we will reach the one million mark in e-vehicles this year.” NPM manager Franz Loogen, who heads the platform’s climate division, even forecast that “we will have one million e-cars on the road by the middle of the year.”

In 2010, the government set the electric mobility target for 2020, but the NPM last year postponed it until 2022 given initially sluggish demand. But sales picked up sharply in the second half of the year due to new government incentives, pushing total registrations to almost 600,000 electric cars by the end of the year, according to auto industry association VDA. About half of these were plug-in hybrids, which also count towards the government’s target. Environmental activists criticise the subsidies for plug-in hybrids, because many are rarely driven in electric mode. Germany plans to have seven to ten million electric cars on the roads by 2030.

The NPM recommended in its latest progress report that plug-in hybrids should be equipped with an automatic switch to increase the use of electric propulsion. “Due to the high proportion of internal combustion engine-powered vehicles in the existing fleet and the current positive market development of plug-in hybrid vehicles, CO2 emissions can be reduced through the use of alternative fuels,” the NPM report states.

It also says plug-in hybrids can help preserve car industry jobs during the transition to clean mobility, because they can “spread out the reduction in the workforce over time.” Registrations of new pure electric vehicles recently overtook plug-in hybrids in Germany.

Buyers of pure electric vehicles in Germany get a premium of 9,000 euros, and those opting for a plug-in hybrid 6,750 euros. Drivers installing a charging point at home can receive an additional 900 euros.

Loogen warned the current rise in sales should not yet be considered a breakthrough, and that Germany should not only rely on electric mobility. “We will only lower CO2 emissions in the transport sector if we rapidly scale up all technologies and can sell them in sufficient amounts and at competitive prices. This is true for electric cars, electric buses, but also for synthetic fuels.”

Sören Amelang is a staff Correspondent for Clean Energy Wire. During his 15 years at the news agency Reuters, he wrote about international business, economics and politics. He was lead writer for Reuters’ German coverage of the financial crisis and the ensuing debt crisis in Europe. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Development Studies from Liverpool University and an MA in International Relations from the University of Sussex.

Filed Under: Green Transportation

About the Author

Clean Energy Wire produces and facilitates top-quality journalism about the energy transition in Germany and beyond, and fosters cross-border cooperation among reporters covering the move towards a climate-friendly society.

Primary Sidebar

Support Independent Journalism

Click here to donate via PayPal.

Personal checks should be made out to Juan Cole and sent to me at:

Juan Cole
P. O. Box 4218,
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548
USA
(Remember, make the checks out to “Juan Cole” or they can’t be cashed)

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter to have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.
Warning! Social media will not reliably deliver Informed Comment to you. They are shadowbanning news sites, especially if "controversial."
To see new IC posts, please sign up for our email Newsletter.

Social Media

Bluesky | Instagram

Popular

  • Israel's Netanyahu banks on TACO Trump as he Launches War on Iran to disrupt Negotiations
  • Iran's Hypersonic Missiles Hit Israeli Refinery, Military Sites, as Israel does the same to Tehran
  • A Pariah State? Western Nations Sanction Israeli Cabinet Members
  • Why did Israel defy Trump – and risk a major War – by striking Iran now? And what happens next?
  • Will Iran reply to Israeli Attacks with "War of Attrition?" Will its Nuclear Red Line Hold?

Gaza Yet Stands


Juan Cole's New Ebook at Amazon. Click Here to Buy
__________________________

Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires



Click here to Buy Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam


Click here to Buy The Rubaiyat.
Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2025 All Rights Reserved