Share of alternative drive systems declines slightly

In April, 106,041 cars with alternative drive systems (purely electric, hybrids with and without plugs and gas-powered) were newly registered in Germany. This corresponds to an increase of 17.4 percent compared to the same month last year. However, April had three more working days this year than in 2023. The proportion of new registrations with alternative drive systems fell to 43.6% in April (April 2023: 44.5%). Cumulatively, 410,766 new vehicles with alternative drive systems rolled onto the roads from January to April. This corresponds to an increase of 7.4% compared to the same period last year. In the first four months, the share of alternative drive systems reached 43.8%, compared to 44% in the same period in 2023.

New registrations of purely battery electric passenger cars (BEV) fell by 0.2% to 29,668 units in April. With the same number of working days as in April of the previous year, the drop would be as much as 14.5%. The BEV share of total new passenger car registrations reached 12.2%. In April 2023, it was still 14.7 percent. Since the beginning of the year, a total of 111,005 BEVs (-10.8%) have been newly registered, accounting for 11.8% of new passenger car registrations.

Vehicles with plug-in hybrid drive (PHEV) achieved a significant increase in April. 15,135 PHEVs rolled onto the roads, 28.4% more than in the same month last year. The share of new passenger car registrations rose to 6.2% (April 2023: 5.8%). From January to April 2024, 60,120 PHEVs were newly registered, 21.9% more than in the first four months of 2023.

Together, electric vehicles (BEVs, plug-in hybrids and fuel cell vehicles) accounted for a market share of 18.4% in April with 44,803 new registrations. This corresponds to an increase of 7.8% compared to April last year. However, the market for electric vehicles has fallen by 1.6% since the beginning of the year. In the first four months, 171,164 new electric vehicles were registered. The share of the total passenger car market amounted to 18.2 percent.

The VDIK regularly updates the list of electric vehicles of its member companies. The VDIK electric list can be accessed here.

Hybrid vehicles without plugs achieved strong growth of 25.9 percent in April. 60,047 new registrations correspond to a 24.7 percent share of passenger car registrations (April 2023: 23.5 percent). In the first four months of 2024, hybrid vehicles without plugs increased by 14.7% to 233,974 new registrations, with their share rising to 24.9% (January-April 2023: 23.5%).

In addition, 1,160 liquid gas passenger cars (+28.5%) and 26 natural gas passenger cars (-83.0%) were newly registered in April.

New registrations of combustion passenger cars reached 137,046 units in April, of which 90,729 were petrol (+18.6%) and 46,317 diesel (+28.2%). The share of petrol cars in passenger car registrations was 37.3 percent, while diesel cars accounted for 19.1 percent. Since the beginning of the year, 349,312 petrol cars (+7.5 percent) and 177,771 (+9.5 percent) diesel cars have been newly registered.

Glossary:
Electric vehicles: BEV, PHEV und FCEV
BEV, Batterieelektrisches Fahrzeug, engl: Battery Electric Vehicle
PHEV, Plug-In-Hybrid, engl: Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle
FCEV, Brennstoffzellenfahrzeug / Wasserstofffahrzeug, engl.: Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle
Hybride, Hybrid ohne Stecker bzw. nicht aufladbar, engl.: Hybrid Electric Vehicle
CNG, Gasförmiges Erdgas, engl: Compressed Natural Gas
LPG, Flüssiggas bzw. Autogas, engl: Liquified Petroleum Gas

Models with a maximum e-motor output of 20 KW are classified as mild hybrids, while full hybrids have a maximum e-motor output of more than 20 KW.