German EV sales need to jump 75% to hit EU fleet targets

Manuel Kallweit, chief economist from the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) lobby group, said on Tuesday in Berlin that sales of battery-powered vehicles alone would have to increase by around 75% compared to the previous year.

The increase would work out to sales of around 666,000 additional all-electric vehicles.

VDA forecasts, however, actually indicate that sales of electric vehicles fell by 9% in 2024, Kallweit said.

Partially electric vehicles, such as plug-in hybrids, would also need to see year-on-year growth of around 53%, Kallweit said.

Under current EU law, car manufacturers could face high fines beginning in 2025 due to stricter CO2 fleet limits.

The VDA expects a total of around 2.8 million new cars to be produced in Germany in 2025, roughly the same as in 2024 but around a quarter less than in 2019, the last year before the coronavirus pandemic massively disrupted the automotive industry.