BEV sales in Germany must rise 75% this year to meet EU fleet emissions limits – German car industry
dpa / t-online
The sales of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in Germany must grow by about 75 percent this year compared to 2024 for carmakers to meet the EU’s new and tighter car fleet CO2 emissions limits, the lobby group German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) has said in a report carried by news agency dpa and published on t-online. VDA economist Manuel Kallweit said about 665,000 new BEVs would have to be sold in Germany in 2025. If other alternative engines are included, such as plug-in hybrid vehicles, year-on-year growth would have to be 53 percent. The VDA expects sales of new cars in the country to total 2.8 million this year, about as much as in the previous year but a quarter less than in 2019.
Registrations of new plug-in electric cars in Germany fell by more than a quarter in 2024 compared to the previous year. The average CO2 emissions of newly registered combustion-engine passenger vehicles rose 4.2 percent, according to the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA). Policymakers in Germany have criticised that carmakers might become subject to fines for failing to comply with fleet emissions limits while other industries receive billions of euros to master the transition.
According to EU legislation, car manufacturers will have to pay fines if their vehicle fleet on average emitts too much, which is meant to incentivise the roll-out of low-emisisons electric vehicles.
