A German incentive package, which encourages it citizens to purchase electric or plug-in hybrid cars, has failed to meet expectations thus far...considering the near-term plan is to get one million EVs on the road by 2020.

VW e-Golf

VW e-Golf

The program, which launched (albeit slightly delayed) in July 2016, attracted just 9,023 applications - applicable to EVs under €60,000.

Honestly, we aren't terribly surprised at the results, as the program was proposed ages ago, and has faced many stumbling blocks.

...such as requiring the OEMs themselves to offer up half the incentive money (which makes no sense for obvious reasons), limiting the participation of which models could participate, and just not being significant enough to add much incentive for a person thinking about a new petrol purchase to opt for a plug instead.

The rebates again are:

  • €4,000 on BEV purchase
  • €3,000 on PHEV purchase
This weak result has left the market with small growth in 2016, at around 25,000 sales (around 1,500 more than year ago).  We should note however, that there was some improvement; since July more than 14,500 plug-ins were registered in Germany...although to be fair, many Germans held off EV buys in the first half of the year knowing a discount was incoming.

Additional stats shows that nearly half of those applications were made by companies, not individuals.

Audi A3 Sportback e-tron

Audi A3 Sportback e-tron

Most of the applications were for all-electric cars:

  • roughly 5,100 BEV
  • about 3,900 PHEV
Among brands, BMW's customers took the most advantage of the incentives:
  • BMW - 2,592
  • Renault - 1,658
  • Audi - 1,188
  • Volkswagen - 887
  • other brands - 2,698
source: automobilwoche.de