The electric car is gaining traction among German manufacturers and among German car buyers. But China dominates in terms of supply and demand.
Every sixth electric car worldwide now comes from a German manufacturer. According to a market study by management consultancy PwC, the proportion of fully electric vehicles increased to 17 percent in the second quarter, and to 50 percent for plug-in hybrids.
The VW Group, BMW and Mercedes-Benz had sold a total of 246,000 battery cars and around 370,000 plug-in hybrids in the first half of the year. According to PwC, the market for fully electric cars is currently still dominated by Chinese and US American manufacturers.
According to PwC, by far the greatest demand for fully electric electric vehicles is in China: 980,000 e-cars and 212,000 plug-in hybrids were registered there in the first half of the year. In the second quarter, the share of purely battery-powered vehicles rose to over 11 percent and was ahead of the European core markets with 8 percent.
“In a global comparison, 58 percent of e-car purchases in this period were on the Chinese market,” wrote the industry experts. The People’s Republic is setting the course for e-mobility in order to “position itself as one of the leading high-tech nations and at the same time improve the quality of life of its own citizens by reducing environmental pollution”.
In Germany, with 84,000 new registrations in the second quarter, the Stromer almost caught up with the plug-in hybrids with a good 85,000 new registrations. Together their market share in the first half of the year was 23 percent. PwC industry expert Felix Kuhnert said that the growing range of products offered by manufacturers and the state purchase premiums for e-cars and charging boxes are important levers.
In the USA, on the other hand, Stromer and plug-in hybrids combined only made up 3 percent. However, the incentives planned by President Joe Biden, increasing environmental awareness and technological advances could change that. In view of the market ramp-up in almost all core markets, delivery problems for chips and batteries would come at an inopportune time, said Pwc strategy consultant Jörn Neuhausen. In addition, the renewable power sources would have to be expanded quickly in order to actually exploit the advantage in terms of CO2 emissions compared to conventional drives.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
