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Germany Stands By Goal of 1 Million EVs by 2020
Chancellor Angela Merkel says Germany has a "good chance" of achieving its goal of putting 1 million electric vehicles on the country's roads by 2020, despite a rocky start.
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Chancellor Angela Merkel says Germany has a "good chance" of achieving its goal of putting 1 million electric vehicles on the country's roads by 2020, despite a rocky start.
Analysts are dubious. At the start of 2013, only 7,100 of the 43.4 million passenger vehicles in Germany were EVs, according to Bloomberg News. Adding hybrid models brings the total to just 72,100 units.
Consultancy Roland Berger tells the news service that 600,000 EVs and plug-in hybrids by 2020 would be a more realistic target for the country.
Henning Kagermann, head of Merkel's EV initiative, tells Bloomberg that sales will get a boost as BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen debut 16 new electric or hybrid models by the end of next year. Those companies have been selling hybrid cars for several years. But the French-built electric version of Daimler's Smart ForTwo city car is currently the only EV offered in the country by a domestic carmaker.
Unlike some of its neighbors, Germany doesn't offer direct incentives for EV purchases and the Merkel administration doesn't plan to add any, Bloomberg notes.
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