Germany electric vehicle subsidy increase 2027, Digi Mart USA News (Germany): High fuel prices are driving a surge in demand for electric cars, and manufacturers are struggling to keep up with orders. In October, 37 percent of all new passenger car registrations in Germany were pure battery-electric vehicles.
Including hybrid models, 75 percent of new vehicles had electric drive systems that month.
The German automotive industry association acknowledged that demand is so strong that delivery times may lengthen for some models. The companies, it said, are adjusting their production capacity to demand in order to keep waiting times as short as possible.
The automotive portal Carwow lists delivery times of one year or more for certain models.
Given the unexpectedly high demand, the federal government intends to provide significantly more funding for electric car purchase subsidies next year than originally planned, according to a report by the news agency Reuters. Instead of the 803 million euros originally envisioned, 1.72 billion euros are now to be budgeted for the purchase premium in 2027.
The overall program volume, however, is apparently not to be increased.
As a result, the planned budget could be exhausted well before the scheduled end in 2029. Since the program started in May, an average of about 4,400 euros has been paid per vehicle.
With a planned total funding amount of 3 billion euros, the money would reportedly be enough for about 680,000 vehicles.
As of October 1, nearly 98,000 subsidy applications had been approved and 432 million euros paid out, of which just over 200 million euros were paid in the preceding month alone. According to figures from the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control, most subsidy approvals went to Volkswagen Group models, followed by Stellantis and Tesla.
When brands are considered separately, Tesla leads among subsidized manufacturers, and the Tesla Model Y is the most frequently subsidized model with almost 8,300 units.
Funding for subsidized charging boxes has also been exhausted due to strong demand. On Tuesday, the Federal Ministry of Transport closed the program for charging infrastructure in and at multi-party residential buildings, which had already ended for homeowners’ associations on November 2.
Besides government subsidies and an expanded model range, with more than 110 models now offered by German manufacturers alone, high fuel prices are a key driver of the boom. According to the Fuels and Energy trade association, average September prices were 2.31 euros per liter for gasoline and 2.37 euros for diesel.
Charging an electric vehicle is not always cheap, however. Customers with a dynamic electricity tariff for a home charging station were paying nearly 1 euro per kilowatt-hour at peak times in recent days, specifically during hours when, with little sunshine and wind, about one third of German electricity generation came from natural gas.
