This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
The numbers:
As a result, EVs now have 28.4% of the total German car market, whereas hybrids have a 28.1% market share. Pure gasoline models ended last month with a 20.5% share, while diesel-powered cars took home 11.4% and PHEVs got 10.9% of the pie.
Splitting gas diesel and hybrids is misleading in this stat. Once EV beats all of the above, true progress is on the horizon.
Not really as they mostly have different rolls.
Diesel is pretty much limited to commercial usage. I'm sure some idiot is driving a diesel truck around but that's not common.
The remaining are all commuter based yes, but the hybrid at least indicates the market is preferring cost saving measures over traditional gas. I would expect hybrid sales to transition to EVs as they drop in price and as battery tech improves.
Honestly for the average hybrid buyer they likely only pick that over an EV due to Germany's insanely high electric prices. Highest in the EU if I recall.
If Germany got their electricity prices under control I'd expect a portion of that market to switch.
Also the last hurdle may be access to charging stations. Charging at home is the most affordable, but there are not many Germans with parking and charging access. I know at my Oma's apartment they have like 4 parking spots (no charging) per building and then everyone fights for street parking. Infrastructure has a long way to go to make EV viable for the average German.
Diesel is pretty much limited to commercial usage. I'm sure some idiot is driving a diesel truck around but that's not common.
That's not really true for Germany. Diesel is still common for commuter cars, I see it a lot with station wagons for example.
Quite odd given the price, I'd love to see the number on that
You can get diesel wagons that do 4l/100km extraurban. Makes up for the little fuel price difference. Every other used car imported to Estonia is a diesel that started its life in Germany.
There are currently about 230k diesel cars on sale on mobile.de that aren't classified as SUVs, pickup trucks or vans. I even excluded minivans from the search. If you add all the crossover SUVs (VW T-whatever, BMW Xwhatever, Audi Qwhatever), you'll have even more and those are still not really trucks.
I drive a 27 year old TDI Skoda that gets 4-5 l/100km. on the road.
And belches all kinds of Nox emissions making Europe a hotspot of lung diseases.
My now over 20 years old Mercedes did about 5 when I had it. An E-Class wagon, so not a very small or light car. 2.7 liter inline 5 diesel.
My current nearly 20 year old Audi doesn't match it but that's because it has full-time AWD and I got the wrong version of the 3.0 tdi, with 171 kW not 176. 176 has higher injection pressure and a newer Bosch EDC version (17 vs 16) that does more with pilot injections and everything, giving it an extra 50 Nm of torque AND ~2 liters less fuel consumption. Right now I'm doing 6-7, but the car is also hilariously quick since it's remapped. Oh well, at least I have the Bosch CP3 pump so I won't have to worry about metal in my fuel shavings like the CP4 folks.
Diesel is usually cheaper in Germany because of lower taxes on it. It only gets turned around in crisis situations like the current Iran war because commercial vehicles and industry use it too.
The hybrids aren't a consumer choice, companies like BMW, MB and Audi put MHEV technology on their normal diesel and petrol engines these days so they could call them hybrids. It's a 48V integrated starter-generator, it only really helps when accelerating from a stop, but at the very least it's cheap to add compared to a proper hybrid battery and extra motors and whatnot.
Diesel is pretty much limited to commercial usage. I’m sure some idiot is driving a diesel truck around but that’s not common.
11.4% pure diesel, but I'd wager a lot of the hybrids are diesel hybrids. From all the big German companies, if you buy a diesel now, it'll be a diesel mild hybrid at least.
And if you click on the source data link in the article, you'll find that it was only new Pkw registrations, not Lkw. Personenkraftwagen = people carrying vehicle, Lastkraftwagen = cargo carrying vehicle. And you can even register pickup trucks as N1 instead of M1 making them Lkw rather than Pkw. If you were to register a large American pickup truck, you'd probably better off registering it as a cargo vehicle so you'd be taxed on weight rather than on its gigantic engine.
You wouldn't believe the push they have for EVs in Europe. The US and Canada are lagging so far behind because of the oil lobby its not even a joke.
Now that's one fine looking car market and use of renewable energy!
Amerikkka: WHY DOESN'T MINE LOOK LIKE THAT?!
Isn't China flooding Europe with cheap EVs? Not necessarily a bad thing but could have some unforeseen repercussions.
Also I'm not advocating that U.S. Automakers are any better, they are not.
Europe is making several EVs for under $25K. The "flooding" is US media propaganda.
I think it's less about US media propaganda and more that the EU put large tariffs on Chinese EV imports which stopped that. In Germany specifically thought, there is a lot of German brand loyalty as well, which is a factor. It's more of the PHEVs that are Chinese imports because those have lower tariffs.
Been loyal to a car brand it's such a weird concept. Especially considering that they all use the same chassis these days anyway.
Xpeng is naking vehicles in Austria.
The European EV market is dominated by European carmakers. There are dozens of models, many of them affordable.
Lol what. EVs are fckn expensive, even the compact cars. Like the Renault E-Twingo for example, that one starts at 20k. That's expensive af. I remember when back then u could get a regular Twingo for like 10k. And no, Inflation alone does not explain a 100% price increase. 20k for a new car ain't cheap. We could have a much higher share of EVs if car manufacturers wouldn't be so greedy.
Don't be an idiot. Do math. You will save 2K a year in fuel. The Twingo in 93 was 8500 euro or €18300 today.
Not necessarily a bad thing but could have some unforeseen repercussions.
They were, but EU placed high import taxes on Chinese EVs to counter this, so I think in places like Germany (which is a county that's pretty brand loyal), Chinese EVs only make up 10% of all EV sales.
I was at the local BYD dealership and it was a ghost town. More employees than potential customers by a large margin. Honestly, the cars they had on display were all way too big for the local market (France), so that is definitely a factor. But, really, people are concerned about the brand and its long-term prospects, and barely anyone is buying. I don't think I have ever seen a BYD driven in town.
They are but whose fault is that? If you're paying car companies and American car companies make decent EVs that wouldn't be a market for Chinese imports.
I do see some chinese brands on the road, but not many in comparison to other more established brands.
The thing keeping people away from chinese brands is the uncertainty of future repairs. The "flood" might come in a few years once people have more experience with how it's handled. Currently, as people get their first EVs, they want to be able to take their VW to the VW shop, not take their BYD to the random no-name mechanic with a BYD sticker on their window.
Everyone is also waiting for the statistics from the EU inspections. Nobody wants a car that can't pass the inspection in a few years time. Tesla has proven to be a huge failure in that regard, and I think that will scare people away from not only Tesla, but also the unknown chinese brands who yet have to prove themselves.
It also doesn't help that these smaller brands pop up and go bankrupt in the same year as they scramble to find their markets.
EU brands might not be any better or cheaper, but at least they are better represented locally.
They are not all "smaller" brands. BYD SAIC CHERY etc are fucking giants.
Yeah BYD will survive, but smaller brands like hiphi, neta, nio, LI auto, etc. There are more than 160 different Chinese brands trying to enter the markets. Most of them will or have already failed in Europe, even if they are active in other countries.
Plenty of new European brands have also failed for the same reasons.
One of my recently aquired hobbies is triggering guys with big diesel trucks by darting through traffic in my dorky little EV faster than they can keep up. "Yes, that's a super cloud of black smoke, did that make you feel better little buddy?"
B-b-b-b-but the gas lobby told me people want diesel!! /j
In my local market EVs got a big jump as well. Thank you Trump! Managed to show the whole world that relying on fossil fuels means rellying on a handful of dictators to not get mad.
