BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - In December, significantly more new electric cars were registered in Germany than a month earlier, despite the abrupt ban on pure electric cars. Around 54,700 new electric cars hit the roads in the last month of 2023, according to figures released by the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) on Thursday. Just under 45,000 new electric cars were registered in November. According to the KBA, a total of around 524,000 all-electric cars were newly registered in 2023 - an increase of 11.4 percent compared to 2022. The share of all new car registrations accounted for by all-electric cars was 18.4 percent.

The German government had actually planned to grant a purchase premium of up to 4,500 euros for new electric cars until the end of 2023. This was to be supplemented by a half subsidy from the manufacturer, i.e. up to 2250 euros. On January 1, 2024, the state bonus was to be reduced to 3000 euros and then expire at the end of 2024. Because the federal government had to correct its budget planning, this requirement was abruptly dropped in mid-December. However, numerous car manufacturers subsequently announced that they would pay the premiums themselves. For many buyers, therefore, the price of the vehicle has ultimately not changed. Delays between ordering and delivery could also have meant that the number of new registrations did not initially collapse in December.

A total of around 2.84 million new cars were registered in Germany in 2023 - that is 7.3% more than in 2022. The number of new commercial registrations in particular rose sharply, while slightly fewer private cars were newly registered than in 2022. The proportion of new commercial registrations was 67.1%./nif/DP/mis