FLENSBURG (dpa-AFX) - The number of electric cars in Germany grew by almost 396,000 last year. According to the Federal Motor Transport Authority, almost 1.41 million purely battery-powered electric vehicles (BEVs) were registered as of January 1. That is around one in every 35 cars on German roads. If you include the 2,000 or so registered cars with fuel cells and 922,000 plug-in hybrids, there were 2.33 million - or around one in 21 cars.

The increase in pure electric vehicles was therefore slightly higher than in 2022, when just under 395,000 were added. It is also well below the number of new BEV registrations last year, which totaled 524,000. A not insignificant proportion of the vehicles registered in Germany were therefore apparently destroyed in accidents, taken out of service or sold abroad.

In the current year, it is becoming apparent that the number of electric cars has grown more slowly - partly because the state purchase premium has been discontinued. At just under 50,000, new BEV registrations in January and February were well below the average figures for the previous year. However, sales at the beginning of 2023 were also initially slow following cuts to the premium.

The largest group of electric cars in Germany are SUVs, which account for more than a third of registered BEVs at 487,000. Minis and small cars follow further behind with 238,000 and 235,000 vehicles respectively.

In terms of brands, Volkswagen is still in the lead: around 237,000 electric vehicles from the Wolfsburg-based company are registered in Germany. It is followed by Tesla with 164,000 and Renault with 120,000. Hyundai is in fourth place with 92,000, ahead of BMW in fifth place with 85,000.

Looking at the federal states, the proportion of electric cars in the vehicle population varies significantly. While they make up 3.7 percent of the fleet in Hamburg, 3.4 percent in Hesse and 3.3 percent in Baden-Württemberg, they account for just 1.3 percent in Saxony-Anhalt, 1.4 percent in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and 1.5 percent in Saxony./ruc/DP/he