E-car market on the road to recovery

16.12.2025

Source: E & M powernews

The share of e-cars in new registrations from January to November was ten percentage points higher than in the same period in 2024. Economists warn against turning away from the combustion engine.

According to the German Energy Agency (Dena), the sales market for electric cars has "recovered noticeably". In the period from January to November 2025, around 490,000 battery electric cars were newly registered, according to the public company's new monitoring report. The report is based on figures from the Federal Motor Transport Authority. For the same period a year ago, 347,000 new registrations were reported.

The share of battery-electric cars in all new registrations will be 19 percent in 2025. The authors of the report put the current share of e-cars in the total number of passenger cars at 4.1 percent.

New registrations of plug-in hybrids up to November total 281,000, which is 108,000 more (63 percent) than in the same period in 2024. Plug-in hybrids account for 11 percent of new registrations, compared to 7 percent a year ago. They now account for around 2.3% of the total number of cars.

Down 22 percent for petrol cars

According to the monitoring, the number of new petrol models registered up to November was 715,000, with sales volumes down 22 percent compared to the previous year. In the diesel car segment, sales of 368,000 new registrations are around 1 percent lower than in 2024.

A differentiated picture emerges for e-vehicles according to private and commercial users. "The shares of car registrations by commercial and private owners for BEVs correspond to the overall market across all drive types," summarizes Dena. In the case of plug-in hybrids, there is still a clear dominance of commercial owner groups.

German car manufacturers are maintaining their position in competition with foreign manufacturers. Four of the five best-selling BEV brands come from Germany, according to the monitoring report. According to the report, the five best-selling battery electric models come from the VW Group. "Although Chinese brands are gaining in importance, they tend to occupy a position in the lower midfield of registration figures in Germany," say the authors.

Turning away from the combustion engine does not solve the problems of corporations

Dena points out that the political discourse on phasing out combustion engines is influencing purchasing behavior. "Even if flexibilization options are introduced by the EU to meet the fleet target values, however, a significant trend reversal in the number of registrations of electric drives is not to be expected," the authors write.

A number of economists believe that turning away from the phase-out of combustion engines from 2035, as demanded by German car manufacturers, would be a mistake in terms of industrial policy. According to Monika Schnitzer, Chairwoman of the German Council of Economic Experts, this would not solve the car manufacturers' problems and would not secure industrial jobs in Germany. Postponing the ban could even have the opposite effect, Schnitzer told the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

According to the German Press Agency, Sebastian Dullien from the Institute for Macroeconomics and Economic Research at the Hans Böckler Foundation, which is close to the trade unions, believes that the problems faced by German manufacturers are less to do with the end of combustion engines than with technological backlogs, such as battery cells. In his view, the key question is whether company managers are pursuing short-term profits or the long-term interests of industry and employees.

EU Commission presents new plans

Anita Wölfl from the Ifo Institute in Munich told the media that car companies had been pursuing a dual strategy between electric and combustion vehicles for too long. This would not pay off in the long term.

Under pressure from member states - not least from Germany - the EU Commission wants to relax future emissions regulations. The Commission intends to present its plans on December 16. It is expected that new cars with combustion engines will still be permitted after 2035.

The Dena monitoring report is available online: "New registrations of passenger cars with electric drives 2025"

Author: Manfred Fischer