Getting a handle on just where the electric car market will end up and what
percentage of the overall car market it will grab is difficult to assess. Last year,
battery electric vehicles accounted for 7.2 per cent of total sales. Throw in plug-in
hybrids and hybrid vehicles and they achieved 16.2 per cent of the market.
Government incentives the world over have had a huge impact on sales. As I
reported late last month Germany, Europe’s largest car market, stopped offering
financial incentives to electric cars on the 17th December and to plug-in hybrids or
PHEV’S 12 months earlier – the subsidies were significant – $7,300 for those
models costing less than $65,000 and $4,875 for those above that figure up to
$105,600. Electric car subsidies have cost German taxpayers a staggering $16.2
billion since their implementation in 2014. So what has happened since – in
December, electric car registrations were 58 per cent less than December 2022
while plug in hybrids were down 74 percent and had decreased each month last
year without subsidies. On this basis, the 2024 German electric car market will be
interesting to watch going forward – plug-in hybrids in particular have lost favour
as has been forecast for some time.

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