Germany’s electric car sales have literally exploded in the last 2 years. 1 in 4 new cars this year is electric or hybrid,vs 1 in 40 in 2019

17 comments

  3. I won’t buy electric yet, 8 years guarantee on battery, 450km range… For a huge price at that…

    I want to keep a car for 10-15 years, not worry that in a decade its 450 gas become 250 due to aged batteries.

    I would buy one in a heartbeat if it would last.

  4. It’s misleading because it does not show total numbers. Car sales are down heavily for 2020 and 2021 and due to the ongoing chip shortage, car manufacturers tend to prioritize expensive vehicles with large margins. Most electric cars fall into this category, which is why the numbers have turned this way. Plugin hybrids especially tend to be heavy luxury vehicles because companies can get them very cheap due to multiple taxation exemptions but most of these cars are never charged and just driven purely on gas.

    And I’m not saying this because I don’t like electric cars (quite the opposite) but this graph is hugely misleading and I assume using percentages rather than total numbers is done on purpose to paint this specific picture of exploding electric vehicle sales while lacking a lot of context.

  5. I don’t think city-dwellers like me would or should ever need a car. Moreover, even if I get to a point that I want one, I would never buy a car unless IoT software mania and “sell car for cheap, rip the customer off sensless in repairs” practices stop. Both American and German manufacturers are notorious for filling their stuff with unnecessary proprietary components and undermining repairability which destroys all of the benefits for the environment.

    In general, not buying things is better for the environment, than buying them. Why not make existing trains more comfortable, cheaper and more accessible?

  7. PHEVs are not “electric cars”, they’re hybrid. These are regular ICE cars that have a battery charged by the fuel-powered generator. In a comparison with a standard hybrid, the battery in a PHEV can be charged externally (Plug-in Hybrid = PH).

    Most people will never charge those batteries with an external electricity source, and you can’t drive with such batteries for more than 70-100 km. For many models, it’s even closer to 50 km. There are two main reasons why such cars are manufactured and sold:

    – the manufacturer decreases CO2 emissions on paper and meets its emission goals

    – the consumer gets government subsidies and tax deductions for driving a “clean electric” car

  9. Pretty sure this is very much driven by the folks who scam the German tax payer by using the Umweltprämie to buy a new Tesla every 6 months and selling it on toto Denmark

  11. I’d like to use one, but there’s so many reasons not to buy one. I need the car for my job, and have to be able to do long distances. The infrastructure and charging times don’t compute with that. Also most (halfway good) EVs are SUVs (which I understand – more space for the batteries), and I hate SUVs.

    So as long as you can’t charge in 10 minutes or less (or simply exchange the battery) it’s not an option for me.

  12. IMO EVs are cool and I’d like to have one, but without better charging infrastructure in my garage or around my apartment it’s a pain in the ass to have one. Complicates my life instead of simplifying it.
    As I’ve talked to my colleagues, it seems all 30+ year old buildings don’t even have power outlets in the garage and it is also almost impossible to add them now.
    Until they do something about it, I think I’ll keep my diesel car.

  13. In reality it’s a lot of hybrid business cars because the driver only has to pay 0.5% instead of 1% in “Steuervorteil”. Driven for 3 years then switched out again.

    I also belong to this category. If i dont have electric charging available then its pretty much a 300hp car that uses 10+ litres of super. Electric charging is only available at work and it kinda takes too long to fill up the e-tank before i drive out again.

    My top issues are the availability of charging and how long it takes to charge…..

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