BERLIN: The most remarkable thing about Jana Hoeffner’s 2,360 mile road trip from Stuttgart to Oslo and back, in a black Tesla Model S sedan, was simply how unremarkable it was. Five years ago, making similar journeys across much of Germany in an electric Renault Zoe would have meant tiresome research to avoid running out of power, she says. These days, not so much. Or even at all. It doesn’t really involve much planning anymore,” she says. Hoeffner, 38, who’s an online editor, is emblematic of a quiet revolution finally taking hold in Europe’s biggest car market.
Conventional wisdom held that Germans, proudly sitting at the source of global automotive engineering prowess, would be among the last to trade in their Porsche 911s or Mercedes Benz SClass diesels for the limited autobahn range offered in an American-made electric Tesla.
But powered by additional charging sites and improving products, Germany this year will become the world’s third-largest market for plug-in hybrids and electric cars, surpassing longtime European leader Norway, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
The downfall of diesel following Volkswagen’s widespread cheating on emissions and a mounting public backlash against urban pollution are only adding momentum to the shift.
ven carmakers who for years argued they built cars, not infrastructure are chipping in as part of their €40 billion (A$62.8 billion) splurge on electric technology budgeted for the next few years. Longtime rivals VW, BMW, Ford and Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler have come together and started construction of a fast-charging network along Europe’s highways. The unprecedented alliance plans 100 stations by the end of this year before quadrupling the total by the end of the decade. So the market is responding. Sales of plug-in hybrid and electric cars are set to jump 64 percent this year to 82,000 vehicles, BNEF forecasts, making Germany the fastest-growing region among the top five markets. BNEF says that forecast may be conservative, and deliveries could easily double again this year. Tesla is growing even more quickly in Germany than electric-car sales generally. Registrations gained 75 percent last year to 3,332 vehicles. That’s approaching the 3,900 sales of the Porsche Panamera four-door, a close competitor to Tesla’s Model S.
Even after big gains, battery vehicles remain a tiny fraction of last year’s German sales of more than 3.4 million new cars. But new models rapidly rolling out across showrooms nationwide could end electrics’ bit-player status soon.
Electric vehicles hitting showrooms this year include Jaguar’s I-Pace crossover sport utility vehicle, as well as Audi’s Q6 e-tron SUV. BMW is unveiling a battery-powered Mini next year, alongside Mercedes-Benz’s SUV as part of its EQ brand. Diesel-stained Volkswagen will launch the fully-electric I.D. Crozz compact crossover and the I.D. Neo hatchback in 2020.
