Germany could shy away from hitting its target of having 15 million electric vehicles on roads by 2030 if sales develop in a linear fashion, the country’s Economy Minister Robert Habeck has said. He added that a ‘tipping point’ is required to hit the target in the right time. “The linear extrapolation of registrations leads to us not hitting the 15 million by 2030, that is true,” he said at an event in Berlin, Reuters reported.
He pointed out that favourable conditions that could avoid a linear growth and facilitate a tipping point could help the cause. Circumstances which indicated such a tipping point – higher range, lower prices, and a faster growth in charging infrastructure – seem to be close by. “But technical developments and, importantly, social acceptance do not develop in a linear way… sometimes there are tipping points,” he added.
Speaking at Mercedes-Benz’s Marienfelde plant where he took a tour of the carmaker’s digitalisation efforts, the minister said, “Perhaps we are coming closer to the point where e-mobility is… the new normal.”
In its recent coalition agreement, the German government had said that it aims to have “at least 15 million fully electric passenger vehicles by 2030”, however since then Transport Minister Volker Wissing has loosened the terms to include both electric and hybrid cars.
The worry about meeting targets comes as EV demand in Europe is slowing, which analysts attribute largely to uncertainty among consumers that EVs meet their requirements for safety, range and price. The growth rate of new electric car registrations in the country has slowed to 11.4% in 2023 from 30% the year before, which is causing widespread concern among carmakers.
As per the latest available data from German federal motor authority KBA, there were 2.2 million cars with an electric motor on German roads as of October 2023, of which 1.3 million were fully electric cars. However, this figure is far from the 2030 target of 15 million.