In May, new car registrations fell again. The winners are the electric cars – but there, too, the large growth rates are over for the time being. In addition, the official statistics put many hybrid models in between.

Cars with petrol, diesel or hybrid drives can still be sold in the EU for 13 years, and then it’s over: from 2035, the ban on combustion engines will apply to all new cars as soon as the EU states approve the decision by Parliament. There are then only exceptions for commercial vehicles and possibly also for small series – Ferrari, for example, could remain allowed to bring a small part of its cars onto the market without pure battery drive.

The product portfolio of manufacturers will change quickly, many manufacturers such as VW, Opel or Audi want to stop selling petrol and diesel cars in the EU much earlier.

At the moment, however, things are looking extremely poor on the entire car market. Not even electric cars are spared from this. The Association of International Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (VDIK) writes: “New registrations of vehicles with alternative drive systems fell in May compared to the previous year. 90,619 new electric cars, hybrids with or without plugs and gas cars were new, 2 percent fewer than in the same period last year The decline in the entire passenger car market in May is also having an impact on alternative drives. In the first five months of 2022, 449,345 new vehicles with alternative drives were newly registered, an increase of 5 percent.”

The number of registrations does not necessarily reflect the current order volume, so that more electric cars would probably be registered if the delivery situation were more relaxed. But something else is completely overlooked when looking at the registration figures: the high proportion of alternative drive systems – at least around 90,619 of 207,000 cars – is deceptive.

Because the statistics of the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) include various hybrid drives and gas vehicles among the alternative drives. Purely electric – with battery or fuel cell, the latter played no role at all on the market with 36 new registrations in May – of the 90,000 cars, hardly more than 29,000 were on the road. The rest are still listed as “alternative drives” today, but will be banned from 2035 at the latest. These include:

In other words: Roughly 80 percent of the new cars that are currently coming onto the market will no longer be eligible for registration in 13 years. Although this year is not fixed yet, because according to the will of several politicians and environmental organizations, the ban should come much earlier, for example in 2030.

The traffic light coalition’s plan still envisages having at least 15 million electric cars on the roads by 2030. Whether the quota is met is ultimately irrelevant with the new EU rule, because the ban no longer requires specific sales figures to be achieved.

On our e-mobility portal EFAHRER.com you will find all e-vehicles available on the German market

You can also arrange a test drive for the car of your choice free of charge and thus start e-mobility in an uncomplicated manner.