Germany’s EV Sales Sink 37% As Subsidies End

Authored by Michael Kern via OilPrice.com,

The biggest European car market, Germany, saw the sales of electric vehicles plummet by 36.8% in July from a year earlier, as EV sales are softening worldwide and as Berlin ended subsidies at the end of 2023.

New car registrations of battery vehicle vehicles (BEVs) in Germany slumped to 30,762 vehicles in July from the same month of 2023, the latest data rom the German Federal Motor Transport Authority showed on Monday. July marked the largest annual drop in EV sales since the government ended subsidies for EV acquisitions in December 2023.   

While BEV sales plunged, the overall car market held relatively flat. New car registrations of gasoline-powered passenger vehicles rose by 0.1% year-over-year in July, and diesel car sales increased by 1.4%. 

Tesla’s new registrations slumped by 36.7% in July compared to the same month of 2023, and was among the worst-performing foreign brands in Germany last month. Renault, Hyundai, and Fiat, among others, also saw their sales on the German market fall in July compared to a year earlier. 

EV demand has visibly softened over the past year, leaving legacy automakers in the U.S., Germany, and France struggling with an overcapacity of their EV models as they realize that the transition to fully electrified transportation will be taking longer than they thought.

Earlier this year, BEV sales in the United States fell for the first time since the onset of Covid in 2020. 

With lower EV sales than expected, major carmakers in the U.S. and Europe are scaling back production of electric vehicles amid overcapacity and are rethinking their ambitious EV sales goals.

Rising concerns about EV capital costs, uncertainties around a number of elections this year, especially in the U.S., and a shortage of rapid-charging stations are the three key factors slowing the EV momentum, Goldman Sachs Research analyst Kota Yuzawa said in May.

The slowdown in global EV sales has hit the profits of the major EV battery manufacturers this year, too.