Germany likely to Miss 1 Million Electric Cars Target by 2020
Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that Germany will likely miss the government’s target of bringing 1 million electric cars onto the roads by 2020, according to Reuters.
“As it looks at the moment, we will not achieve this goal,” Merkel told fellow lawmakers of her center-right CDU/CSU bloc.
Sluggish Sales
The sale of electric vehicles (EVs) has remained sluggish in Germany despite discounts introduced last year and granted to buyers of green cars. In 2016, there were less than 80,000 electric cars on German roads.
Price & Distance Anxiety
Experts say German consumers remain reluctant to buy EVs because of relatively high prices, limited driving range and restrictions due to the low number of charging stations.
The long time it takes to charge batteries is another disadvantage of electric cars compared to conventional cars with gasoline tanks that can be filled up in seconds.
More Charging Stations
In 2016, there were some 7,400 charging points in Europe’s most populous country. In March, Germany’s transport ministry announced a Eur300 million ($318 million) support scheme to expand electric vehicle charging station network of 15,000 charging points by 2020.
According to electricity industry group BDEW’s calculation, additional 70,000 normal and 7,000 fast charging stations will be needed to support 1 million electric cars on Germany’s roads.
Electric Car Discount Scheme
Introduced on July 1, 2016 the Germany’s Electric Vehicle Discount scheme, is similar to those established in other European countries to spur electric car sales, which grants buyers of electric cars a 4,000 euro($4,452.00) discount and gives buyers of plug-in hybrid vehicles a discount of 3,000 euros. A total 1.2 billion euro ($1.3 billion) cost of the incentives has been set aside for Germany’s electric mobility initiative, which is shared equally between the German government and carmakers. The incentive scheme expires at the end of June 2019.
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