Share of new cars with alternative engines reaches double digits for first time in Germany
Clean Energy Wire
The number of new registrations of electric, hybrid, liquid gas and natural gas engines has risen by 65.2 percent in the first three quarters of 2019 compared with the same period last year, according to a German Energy Agency (dena) monitoring report. For the month of October, vehicles with alternative engine technology achieved a double-digit share of passenger car registrations at 11.3 percent for the first time. Between January and September, the share of newly registered vehicles with alternative drive systems rose to 8.2 percent (up from 5.1 percent a year earlier). Andreas Kuhlmann, chairman of dena's management board, noted: "The continuing rise in interest in alternative drive systems is positive. However, this is counteracted by the continued strong sales of new cars with high fuel consumption. Politicians must take countermeasures here. Subsidy measures for electrified drives and a CO2 price of 35 euros per tonne in six years' time will not have a sufficient steering effect towards more efficient vehicles."
Emissions in Germany's transport sector are particularly hard to tackle and have remained almost unchanged since 1990, as progress in engine efficiency has been largely outweighed by growing traffic volumes and heavier vehicles. The sector emitted over 160 million tonnes of CO2 in 2018 and this figure is supposed to sink below 100 million tonnes by 2030.
