German electric vehicle registrations reach 10,000 for first time in March

Clean Energy Wire

A total of 10,329 new fully electric cars were registered in Germany in March, 2020, reports the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) in a press release.

This is a new record, while the share of e-cars in total registrations also rose to its highest ever level at almost five per cent. The share of petrol cars continued its downward trend of the past months to 50 percent, and diesel vehicles made up a little over 30 percent.

Compared to the same month last year, total new registrations fell almost 40 percent amid the coronavirus crisis, writes the KBA.

Meanwhile, applications for the government’s buyer’s premium for alternative-engine cars also reached a new record at 12,365 in March, bringing the total to 191,838, according to the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (BAFA).

Faced with the economic slump brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, the German car industry has recently called on the EU to drop tighter CO₂ emissions limits.

The country’s largest carmakers, including VW and Daimler, have suspended production in a bid to cushion the impact of the coronavirus outbreak and introduced ‘short-time’ work for their employees in order to limit the damage to their businesses.

The virus outbreak is likely to cause a massive reduction in Germany’s industrial output and is set to largely paralyse economic activity for at least several weeks.

This article was first published in Clean Energy Wire.