In a global comparison of the market ramp-up of e-mobility, Germany stands out with a high share of electrified vehicles in its vehicle stocks. At the end of 2024, battery electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrids (PHEV) accounted for almost 4% of the total passenger car stock. This puts Germany ahead of the USA (1.7%), South Korea (2.1%) and Japan (0.7%).
In absolute numbers, the USA leads with 4.8 million electrified vehicles, followed by Germany with 2.4 million, Japan and South Korea with over 500,000 BEVs and PHEVs each. What is striking is that in the bus segment, South Korea and the USA have significantly higher numbers of electric vehicles on the road than Germany – about three times as many.
In the EU, the picture is mixed. While new passenger car registrations in February 2025 fell by 3.4%, BEV sales grew by 28.4% to 255,489 units. This means that the market share of fully electric vehicles rose to 15.2%. Three of the four largest markets contributed significantly to BEV growth:
Only France recorded a decline of 1.3%. Nevertheless, France remains a stable market with over 183,000 new registrations in February. Overall, the momentum of e-mobility in Europe continues to be positive.
As of January 1, 2025, the total number of passenger cars in Germany was 49,339,166 vehicles. This includes 3.35 million battery electric vehicles (BEV) and 1.96 million plug-in hybrids (PHEV).
In February 2025, 17.7% of electric vehicles and 9.6% of plug-in hybrids were sold in Germany. In the period from March 2024 to February 2025, the figures were 14.3% for electric vehicles and 7.16% for plug-in hybrids.
With a political target of 15 million e-cars in 2025 (= 100%), 11.3% electric and 6.5% plug-in were achieved, which is around one-fifth of the target.
The charging infrastructure in Germany was expanded significantly in 2024: Around 30,000 new charging points and an additional 1.5 GW of installed charging power were added. This means that the number of charging points rose by 39.0% and charging power by 25.4% compared to 2023. Across Germany, demand is met to the tune of 122%, while in the five largest cities, it is met to the tune of 73% – indicating regional potential for expansion and structural backlogs.
