German EV sales fall 6% on year in July: VDA

Sales of passenger electric vehicles in Germany dropped 6% year on year in July to 52,570 units and an overall market share of 25.5%, according to the most recent data from auto-industry association VDA.

The market share was up from 24.2% a year ago and 26% in June. The EV sales also fell 10.1% month on month.

New registrations of battery EVs rose 13% on the year, while sales of plug-in hybrid EVs fell by 21%, according to the VDA.

With demand for EVs generally moving higher, battery raw material prices have been strong, with the Platts seaborne lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide assessments up 110.1% and 136%, respectively, since the start of 2022 at $71,000/mt CIF North Asia and at $74,800/mt CIF North Asia as of Aug. 3, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights data.

Meanwhile, overall new vehicle registrations fell 11% year on year in July to 205,900 units, which was also 8% lower than June’s volume.

Of the monthly total, 141,500 units, or 68.7%, were German brands and the remaining 64,400 were foreign brands.

“The lack of primary and intermediate products, high raw-material prices and general uncertainty due to the ongoing war in Ukraine are still dampening the market and production,” the VDA said.

Overall new passenger car sales for the first seven months of the year totaled 1.4 million units, down 11% year on year, although compared to the pre-coronavirus year 2019, the decline was 34%, the VDA said.

Of these, 25.3% were EVs, totaling 359,000 units over the seven-month period, up from a share of 14% in the January-July 2021 period.

The data showed 209,600 vehicles were exported during July, up 18% from a year ago, but down 12% month on month.

According to the VDA, 263,400 passenger cars were produced in July, up 7% on the year and 13% higher month on month.

In the first seven months of 2022, 1.9 million passenger vehicles were produced in Germany, down 2% on the year, the VDA said.

According to S&P Global Commodity Insights, 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