Sales of passenger electric vehicles in Germany more than doubled on the year in December, bringing the full-year 2022 total to 833,500 units, up 22% from 2021, according to the latest data from auto industry association VDA released Jan. 5.
December EV sales were also up 70% from November and at a 55.4% market share, up from 35.6% a year ago and the highest monthly share on record.
The VDA said the record high suggested that purchases were being brought forward, as state subsidies for plug-in hybrids, or PHEVs, expired at the end of 2022, and those for purely battery-electric vehicles, or BEV, were reduced.
Of the December volume, 104,330 units were battery EVs, up 115% on the year, while 69,800 were plug-in hybrid EVs, up 113%, the data showed.
The full-year 2022 market share for EVs was 31.4%, up from 26.1% in 2021.
Of the 2022 total, BEVS were 470,600 units, up 32% on the year, while PHEV sales climbed 11% to 362,100 units, according to the VDA.
With demand for EVs generally moving higher, battery raw material prices have been strong. Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed seaborne lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide at $74,700/mt CIF North Asia and $81,200/mt CIF North Asia Jan. 5, up 121% and 156.2%, respectively, since the start of 2022.
Meanwhile, overall new vehicle registrations climbed 38% on the year in December to 314,300 units, which was up 21% from the previous month.
Of the monthly total, 190,100 units, or 60.5%, were German brands and the remaining 124,200 were foreign brands.
Full-year sales totaled 2.65 million units, up 1% on the year, with German brands making up 1.8 million units, steady year on year, and foreign brands rising 3% from 2021 to 874,100 units.
“The lack of primary and intermediate products, the high energy and raw material prices and the general uncertainty due to the war in Ukraine had dampened the market and production considerably throughout the year – but especially in the first half of the year – so that especially in spring and significant declines were recorded in the summer of 2022,” the VDA said.
It noted that, compared to 2019, sales were down 26% in 2022.
The data showed that 202,500 vehicles were exported from Germany during December, up 1% from a year ago, but falling 28% from November.
Total exports for 2022 jumped 10% year on year to 2.6 million units.
According to the VDA, 253,700 passenger cars were produced in December, up 2% on the year and the eighth consecutive months of year-on-year gains, although this was 34% lower than the previous month.
In the whole of 2022, 3.4 million passenger vehicles were produced in Germany, up 11% on the year, the VDA said, although it added that the production volume was still at a comparatively low level and was around 26% lower than pre-pandemic levels.
According to S&P Global, plug-in light duty EV sales in Germany are expected to be 771,990 units in 2022 then reach 1.1 million units in 2025 and 1.9 million units in 2030.
— Jacqueline Holman
