Wolf-Peter SchillMar 4

🔌🚗 Electric mobility in Germany: Untapped Potential!

Electric mobility has been slow to take off, but there are positive trends. I summarize them in the new #DIW Berlin Weekly Report, based on data collected on the #OpenEnergyTracker. (English version of a report first published in 🇩🇪 in February)
https://www.diw.de/de/diw_01.c.1001593.de/publikationen/weekly_reports/2026_09_1/electric_mobility_in_germany__untapped_potential.html
#electricvehicles #electrifyeverything #energytransition

DIW Berlin: Electric Mobility in Germany: Untapped Potential

A rapid transition from combustion engines to electric vehicles is essential for climate protection in road transport. This report highlights current trends in electric mobility in Germany based on data from the Open Energy Tracker platform. Although new registrations of electric passenger cars and commercial vehicles have recently increased, overall, electric mobility is still developing slowly. Newly ...

DIW Berlin
Show threadWolf-Peter SchillMar 4
2/ tl;dr: electric mobility has finally arrived in Germany – and not just for passenger cars. But the pace is still far too slow to achieve the climate targets. In my view, it would now be helpful to have political clarity on technology instead of clinging to the ideal of technology neutrality.
Show threadWolf-Peter SchillMar 4

3/ The planned relaxation of EU fleet limits – which the German government had strongly advocated – and the new subsidies for plug-in hybrids send exactly the wrong signals, in my opinion.

Here are the most important facts in a little 🧵 :

Show threadWolf-Peter SchillMar 4
4/ ↗️ New registrations of battery-electric passenger cars recovered significantly in 2025 after a slump in 2024 due to the abrupt end of purchase subsidies. However, the multi-year trend shows more of a stagnation (Fig. 1).
Show threadWolf-Peter SchillMar 4
5/ 🚙 Electric cars are getting bigger and bigger: SUVs and luxury cars now dominate new registrations. Small and compact electric cars play a much smaller role than they did a few years ago (Fig. 2).
Show threadWolf-Peter SchillMar 4
6/ 🇪🇺 Over 80% of newly registered electric cars come from European manufacturers, more than half of them from Germany. It is striking that Tesla's market share has fallen sharply. Chinese manufacturers grew significantly, albeit from a low level (Fig. 3).
Show threadWolf-Peter SchillMar 4
7/ 2️⃣ There are currently around 2 million purely electric cars on the road in Germany – that is just 4% of the total passenger car fleet. The previous political target of 15 million electric cars by 2030 is therefore practically unachievable (Fig. 4).
Show threadWolf-Peter SchillMar 4
8/ ➡️ A look at the total passenger car fleet shows that gasoline and diesel cars continue to dominate. In order for the transition to become more visible in the vehicle fleet, new electric registrations must increase rapidly (Fig. 5).
Show threadWolf-Peter SchillMar 4
9/ 🚚 The dynamics are different for commercial vehicles: new electric registrations are growing steadily for trucks, and particularly rapidly for semi-trucks – albeit from a low level. Buses are already the most electrified. Hydrogen, on the other hand, continues to play a negligible role (Fig. 6).
Show threadWolf-Peter Schill
10/ 🔌 The public charging infrastructure is now growing faster than the electric car fleet, especially for fast chargers. Mathematically, fewer and fewer electric cars have to share a fast charging point. The charging infrastructure is therefore no longer likely to be a major bottleneck (Fig. 7).
Mar 4 at 9:52pmWeb
Show threadWolf-Peter SchillMar 4
11/ 📄 The Weekly Report: https://www.diw.de/de/diw_01.c.1001593.de/publikationen/weekly_reports/2026_09_1/electric_mobility_in_germany__untapped_potential.html
📊 Interactive and continuously updated graphs on the #OpenEnergyTracker: https://openenergytracker.org/en/docs/germany/emobility/
DIW Berlin: Electric Mobility in Germany: Untapped Potential

A rapid transition from combustion engines to electric vehicles is essential for climate protection in road transport. This report highlights current trends in electric mobility in Germany based on data from the Open Energy Tracker platform. Although new registrations of electric passenger cars and commercial vehicles have recently increased, overall, electric mobility is still developing slowly. Newly ...

DIW Berlin