E-mobility globally on the rise

In 2023, the global upward trend in e-mobility continued in terms of new passenger car registrations. With around 14.5 million newly registered passenger cars with an electric drive system (BEV, PHEV or FCEV) worldwide, the previous year's record of 105 million units was significantly exceeded. However, relative growth, which was still over 100 percent in 2021, has slowed down to +38 percent. Given the significant unit numbers now achieved, this is entirely normal when a new drive technology ramps up.

One in five passenger cars sold globally is now powered by electricity. Of these, 69 percent (previous year: 74 percent) are purely electric BEV vehicles, at 10.0 million units. Fuel cells (FCEVs) continue to lose ground with merely 10 thousand units. The remainder are plug-in hybrids (PHEVs). The transformation from the internal combustion engine to the electric motor, which is necessary in view of the ambitious UN climate target, is thus in full swing in the automotive industry. It should be noted that the development in the different markets is quite heterogeneous; in general, it can be said that there is a more or less pronounced relationship between prosperity and penetration of the market with electric passenger cars. In addition, incentives and legal requirements, e.g. regarding CO2 limits, play an important role.

The largest electric passenger car market in 2023 was once again China by a clear margin, where more than one in two e-cars were sold worldwide, with 7.3 million units (+38 percent year-on-year). The electric share of sales has risen to 33.7 percent (2022: 25.7 percent) and exceeds the German e-share (24.6 percent) for the first time. BEVs dominate with a 67 percent share of all e-cars but less so than in 2022 when their share still amounted to 77 percent. Over 2.4 million plug-in hybrids and range-extenders complete the wide model spectrum. Especially range-extenders have gained in importance due to the demand of electric vehicles with high ranges on the countryside. In China a tax credit of 10 percent was valid until the end of 2023. In the medium to long term, the focus is on gradually abolishing the sales subsidy while increasing minimum electric quotas for locally producing manufacturers.

In second place worldwide in 2023 was the USA, with 1.42 mn (+52 percent) new electric cars registered. The market penetration of e-cars increased from 6.8 percent (2022) to 9.2 percent. The maximum tax credit of $7,500 for BEVs and PHEVs has been extended through 2031 by the Inflation Reduction Act. 78 percent of all e-light vehicles are BEVs. Electric mobility does not yet play a significant role outside of California, which accounts for more than one third of all e-cars sold in the United States.

With 700,200 e-car registrations (-16 percent) the German market accounted for nearly one in four e-cars sold in Europe. The reason for the decrease was the reduction of the environment premium. An electric share of 24.6 percent was achieved (previous year: 31.4 percent). This means that e-cars are more popular than diesel cars (including mild hybrids), which accounted for 22.0 percent last year. The share of plug-in hybrids dropped to 25 percent of all new e-car registrations (2022: 43 percent) because of the elimination of the PHEV purchase incentives by the government end of 2022. On December,18th 2023 the BEV incentive for private customers was prematurely abolished due to a budget decision of the Federal Court of Justice. On August, 31st 2023 the purchase incentive had already been stopped  for commercial customers according to plan.