German Drivers Giving up on Electric Vehicles and Switching Back to Internal Combustion

Never mind persuading the public to buy electric vehicles, an emerging challenge for the green energy reset in Germany is getting them to keep them, with a soaring number of EV owners switching back to internal combustion.

One in three electric vehicle owners switched back to gasoline or diesel cars this year, data from Germany’s largest car insurer states, a growing trend suggesting even those who took the leap aren’t finding the new technology as suitable for their lifestyles as hoped. As stated, the abolition of the electric car subsidy encouraging new purchases with a hefty €4,500 to €6,000 ($4,900, $6,500) taxpayer-funded discount continues to be felt.

Germany plans to abolish the sale of almost all new internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles by 2035, but has a long way to go in the next decade to square this with the public, a report on new data in Die Welt finds. While a survey that 29 per cent of Germans would only ever consider an electric car if forced by law and only 18 per cent say they would consider an electric for their next car purchase, actual observed behaviour is more instructive.

Just 3.6 per cent of ICE drivers made the switch to electric in Germany this year, it is stated, with electric vehicles accounting for 2.9 per cent of vehicles on the country’s roads. Yet at the same time, 34 per cent of electric car owners switched back to ICE so far this year.

This is a figure that has risen year-on-year all this decade, with the switch-back rate to gasoline now double the 14 per cent observed in 2021. As observed in the German press: “Apparently, electric cars cannot convince many owners to stick with this form of propulsion in the long term.”

Earlier data reported on earlier this year stated demand for electric vehicles was falling across the continent, with demand in Germany falling nearly 29 per cent.

The switch to electric is already causing major heartache for German auto manufacturers, who have invested heavily in battery technology only to find sales weak and their products meaningfully undercut by Chinese imports. Earlier this year Mercedes-Benz announced its original plans to make the company fully electric by 2030 were being scaled back, with ICE cars still to be made into next decade.

Just this month, the European Union moved to place tariffs of up to 35 per cent on Chinese imports. While this may protect European car makers from cheap imports, it may also slow the electric transition as it starves the European market of cheaper models.