Germany's new EV registrations in July almost triple on year on green stimulus: KBA

New York — Germany's new electric vehicle registrations jumped 181.7% year on year in July to a record 16,798 units, which was also more than double June's 8,119 units, according to Aug. 5 data from the country's Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA), as the country's green stimulus measures kicked in.

In June, Germany announced it was increasing subsidies for all plug-in vehicles by 50% with a max subsidy of €9,000 ($10,700) effective from July until the end of 2021. It also said it was looking to levy higher motor tax for more polluting vehicles and there are also new requirements for all petrol stations to offer plug-in vehicle charging points.

EVs made up 5.3% of the total new passenger vehicle registrations for the month, which totalled 314,938 units, down 5.4% year on year, but 43% higher than June's volume and also the highest monthly volume since July 2019.

The KBA reported that a record 52,488 new hybrid vehicles were registered during July, 143.4% higher than a year ago and up 73.5% from June to its best-ever market share of 16.7%.

Of these, 19,119 were plug-in hybrids, climbing 484.7% on the year and 77.9% on the month to a record high and a market share of 6.1%.

Meanwhile, new petrol car registrations dropped 20.3% on the year to 154,352 units, which still accounted for 49% of the market share. Diesel cars registered in July totalled 89,543, down 18.6% on the year with a share of 28.4%.

In the first seven months of 2020, 61,105 new EVs were sold, 65% higher than the January-July 2019 period.

Hybrid sales for the year-to-date period were also 70% higher on the year to 211,699, with plug-in hybrids up 246.9% to 68,660.

In comparison, the total number of new passenger car registrations over the January-July 2020 period were 1.5 million, down 30.1% year on year.