Sales fell 69% in August and show dependence on the country that sells the most.

We thought that electric vehicle sales in Germany might hit rock bottom. Last July, sales of electric vehicles in Germany fell by 36.8%. The numbers were startling as Germany is the country in Europe that buys the most electric vehicles. And in fact, despite the sharp drop in sales, it is still there.

If we take ACEA data, a total of 214,887 vehicles were sold in Germany last July, representing a market share of 12.6%. This is a far cry from 2023, when electric vehicles accounted for a 16.4% market share, which was also in full swing.

Now try the opposite way. Passing the halfway point in 2023, the number of electric vehicles sold in Germany it never stopped growing. So much so that in August, a month when car sales generally slow, 86,649 all-electric vehicles were registered. 31.7% of cars purchased in Germany in August 2023 were electric.

In the following months, sales again exceeded 31,000 units until they rose again in November to almost reach 45,000 units and soared again to 54,000 units in December. The latest figure is a far cry from the more than 100,000 all-electric units registered in December 2022.

The data, as we’ll see, tells us that assistance still plays a key role in selling electric vehicles.

A market that goes hand in hand with

Sales of electric vehicles seem hopelessly relegated to assisting purchases. At least so far, including countries with greater economic resources and where more electric vehicles are purchased.

Germany is probably the best example of this. In 2023, it was the country that sold the most cars, adding 2,844,609 units, well behind France (1,774,723 units sold) and Italy (1,565,331 units), which make up the three countries that bought the most cars in Europe last year. .

Germany is also the country with the highest average salary. Their average salary in 2023 was €60,867, compared to €43,438 in France and €33,492 in Italy. Numbers that should boost EV sales once the bailout ends.

And at least this is what the German government should have foreseen until 2024. The plan called for a gradual withdrawal of aid. In 2024, assistance of €4,500 should be provided for the purchase of cars worth up to €40,000 and €3,000 for cars worth between €40,000 and €65,000. The manufacturer was also required to cooperate. In the first case they had to provide assistance in the amount of 2250 euros (6750 euros maximum savings) and 1500 euros in the second (4500 euros maximum savings). By 2025, aid should disappear completely.

But finally, on December 17, 2023, all assistance for the purchase of electric vehicles was stopped. Just a few days earlier, a German judge forced them to delete given that the funds allocated for them (60 billion euros) were initially allocated to other purposes and therefore could not be allocated to the task of stimulating sales of electric vehicles.

That stopped registrations in December 2023, a key month, as aid cuts created a rush to register as many cars as possible. The dam, installed by the justice mid-month, prevented electric vehicle sales from approaching the more than 100,000 sold in December 2022.

At the beginning of 2024, brands themselves faced discounts, perhaps in the hope of helping them buy electric cars. will be resumed soon. But none of this happened, and since then sales of electric vehicles in Germany have been in free fall.

In August last year (latest ACEA data), sales of electric vehicles in Germany fell by 68.8% compared to the same month in 2023. This month in 2024, 27,024 electric vehicles were sold, a far cry from 2023’s 86,649 units. again, aid again plays a key role in this development.

If in August last year in Germany, for every three cars sold, one electric car was sold, this is due to the fact that on September 1, 2023, assistance to companies for the purchase of this type of vehicle ended. This has led to a surge in registrations in a month when sales traditionally fall.

This meant that in August 2024, the perfect storm would strike. Germany has sold 32% fewer electric vehicles this year than in the same period in 2023. Its market share increased from 18.6% to 12.3% of the total weight of cars sold. Obviously, The disaster in August was more noticeable as the accelerator was attacked to gain access to help that was running low.

A year ago, when aid was already in full swing, the market share of electric vehicles in Germany was well above the European average. Today it is exactly at the average level for the rest of the European Union. It has 11 countries selling more electric vehicles if we look at their total sales, and this figure rises to 15 countries if we include Iceland, Switzerland, Norway and the UK.

Photo | Volkswagen

In Hatak | Germany has stopped helping electric cars. Immediately after this, all brands reduced their prices by thousands of euros.