Electric cars are suddenly disappearing from stock

Although new registrations of electric cars in Germany are steadily increasing, many models disappear from the statistics after a while. The Center of Automotive Management (CAM) suspects a morally questionable business model as a contributing factor.

E‑car inventory lower than expected

Fully electric cars (BEV), but also hybrids (HEV) and plug-in hybrids (PHEV; you can read more about the differences here) were very popular in Germany in 2022. That’s what they show increasing percentage of registrations.

As can be seen from the results of the DAT barometer, 272,473 BEV and 215,647 PHEV were registered from January to September this year. However, the actual inventory is significantly lower than expected. A total of 86,888 vehicles are missing – 50,288 BEV and 36,600 PHEV (source: DATE).

Deviation in the statistics: traders are partly to blame

According to the DAT, it is not entirely clear what causes the discrepancy. The experts surmise that Total losses, deregistrations, shutdowns and exports contribute to this number. A clear assignment is not possible based on the figures from the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA).

Another possible cause is noisy Handelsblatt but also a legal one, albeit morally not entirely unobjectionable business practice by car dealers. They pocket the state environmental bonus of 6,000 euros as soon as they lease or sell an electric car. If they get the car back from the lessee after six months, they can export it abroad as a young used car. Due to the high demand and the low availability of new cars, good money can be made with them.

This is by no means forbidden, after all, the regulations on the environmental bonus only see it a minimum holding period of 6 months before. Teslas are particularly popular: a not inconsiderable proportion of all branded cars registered in Germany since 2012 have now been sold to other European countries – we reported.

Tesla is more popular than ever, but the brand is accused of turning customers into beta testers:

DAT barometer: Last minute panic with plug-in hybrids

As of October 1, 2022, Deutsche Automobil Treuhand (DAT) was able to determine a total of 48,733,413 registered motor vehicles in Germany. Conventional drives still make up a large part of the stock: 63 percent of all vehicles run on petrol, while 30 percent of drivers in this country rely on diesel combustion engines.

In the meantime, however, 7 percent of all vehicles are powered by alternative drives. That means a remarkable increase of 38 percent. Battery-powered vehicles (BEV) are showing the greatest growth, 25 percent of all vehicles with alternative drives are fully electric. Compared to the previous year, this is an increase of 64 percent.

The second largest growth is plug-in hybrids (PHEV) with a total share of 22 percent and an increase of 51 percent. The increased demand compared to the previous year could be due to the last minute panicto benefit from the soon-to-be-ending subsidy for plug-in hybrids before the end of the year. Hybrids still make up the largest number of alternative drive systems, at 41 percent. Cars powered by gas bring up the rear with 12 percent (source: DATE).

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