Surprising e-car boom: Sales in the EU increase significantly

Frankfurt am Main. Finally some good news from the car industry. In January, sales of new electric cars rose in the EU by 34 percent compared to the previous year to around 124,000 vehicles. Electric vehicles thus achieved a market share of a whopping 15 percent, up from around 10 percent at the beginning of 2024. This was announced by the European industry association Acea. In several important markets, new registrations recorded strong double-digit growth. Above all, Germany with an increase of more than 50 percent. Overall, there was an increase in 19 of the 27 EU countries.

It is noteworthy that new registrations of Elon Musk's Tesla brand, of all things, fell by half to just 7,517 cars, bucking the trend. Musk's role as Trump's confidant presumably plays a role here. The Volkswagen Group retained its market leadership - across all types of drive - with an increase in registrations of almost 6 percent to almost 230,000 cars. The Wolfsburg-based company is also way ahead in e-mobility.

Is the car crisis suddenly and unexpectedly over? Not really. Not only because the total number of new registrations shrank by almost three percent to 831,000. The data for the electric segment is also under special circumstances. On January 1, 2024, government purchase premiums expired in some EU countries. That is why the numbers at the time were particularly low compared to current new registrations.

In addition, significantly lower CO₂ limits for new vehicle fleets have been in force in the EU since the start of the new year. Car manufacturers are facing fines. "As a result, some manufacturers may have postponed new electric vehicle registrations until January," explains Constantin Gall of the auditing and consulting firm EY. It remains to be seen how sustainable the upturn in the electric market will be. "It is quite possible that the strong increase at the start of the year will prove to be a flash in the pan," explains Gall.

On the other hand, experts have been discussing for months what car manufacturers can come up with to avoid the embarrassing CO₂ fines. One possibility is so-called pooling - a kind of indulgence trade. Car manufacturers with too high a proportion of combustion engines improve their CO₂ balance mathematically by lumping their sales together with those of electric manufacturers. Tesla has made a huge amount of money from this in the past. But pooling is not necessarily good for its image and is also quite expensive.

“The price gap has never been so small since the end of the environmental bonus,” says automotive professor Ferdinand Dudenhöffer.

Source: Nicolas Blandin/dpa-tmn

That is why many experts have placed their bets on electric offensives. According to automotive professor Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, in the first month of the new year the price difference for comparable models between the fully electric version and a combustion engine has shrunk to an average of just around 5,100 euros. "The price difference has never been this small since the end of the environmental bonus," emphasizes Dudenhöffer. The car manufacturers hope that by narrowing the gap, more customers will opt for electric cars.

Gall also believes it is possible that “additional sales and marketing activities” could be behind the electric boom. But that raises the question of how long the companies will be able to keep this up. The first indications are likely to emerge when the Federal Motor Transport Authority announces the new registrations for February in Germany in a few days.

The EY expert also emphasizes: "The manufacturers are making every effort to arouse the interest of car buyers with new and attractive electric models and affordable financing models. In addition, the range is also increasing in the lower price segment." This year, numerous new compact and small cars will be launched that are pure electric. For example, the R5 E-Tech from Renault or the Grande Panda Electric from Fiat.

At the same time, Gall admits that customers' willingness to buy is still cautious and depends heavily on support measures: "The vast majority of customers are not yet convinced by electromobility. This requires further efforts on the part of the industry - and not just in terms of price." One of the points that is repeatedly mentioned is the charging infrastructure.

Affordable charging at work or in one's own garage is not possible for all drivers. This is especially true for millions of renters: only five percent of 2,000 respondents drive fully electric vehicles. This is the result of a survey conducted by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of the real estate service provider Ista, which was made available to the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND). The most common barriers to switching were mentioned as: purchase price and range, followed by the possibility of charging at home.

And among the tenants who already use an electric car, more than a third complain about the lack of charging options at home. Ista manager Christoph Klinck speaks of a "special challenge" for the mobility transition. The electrification of parking spaces in apartment buildings requires new approaches and solutions from everyone involved. Politicians and administrators are just as much in demand as real estate project developers and owners.