Weakening electromobility: "We have a massive regulars' table problem"

The current meager demand for electric cars in Germany is not being met by the real challenges of the powertrain revolution. Experts agreed on this at the TÜV-MobiCon conference in Berlin on Wednesday. "We have a massive regulars' table problem", explained Stefan Moeller, Managing Director of e-car rental company Nextmove. Potential buyers are standing "like rabbits in front of a queue", he said, referring to a "low mood" linked to the low sales. Many small factors had contributed to this. Interested parties felt "left hanging by politicians", for example, so that they had to provide positive impetus again quickly.

E-mobility was still sexy in 2022, Moeller stated. Then the environmental bonus was abolished overnight. Although this step led to uncertainty in the market, it was overdue. Today, electric cars are almost cheaper than they used to be with the subsidy. "The leasing rate has reached junk level," says the insider. The utilization of the charging network is also low, and the costs for public charging can be reduced with subscription offers, for example. There are often already 50 to 80 fast-charging points at service stations. At best, the operators lack the space to expand further. In front of supermarkets, cars could increasingly be charged while shopping.

Michael Fübi, President of the TÜV Association, also lamented that the drive turnaround needed to reduce CO₂ emissions was faltering. According to the recently published Mobility Study 2024 by the testing organizations, 51% of Germans consider it unlikely that they will buy an electric car as their next vehicle. Only 27 percent are seriously considering such a purchase. As in previous years, participants in the representative survey cited the high purchase costs (54%) and insufficient range of electric cars (51%) in combination with an inadequate charging infrastructure (43%) as obstacles.

Growing concern about battery safety

A new hurdle has been added: 18% have fundamental concerns about the safety of the vehicles. A high proportion of 40 percent have less confidence in the safety of e-cars than in that of combustion engines. In this group, 80 percent fear that there could be problems with the battery. 68 percent are concerned that there is a higher risk of fire in accidents involving electric cars. Fübi, who has already made the switch himself, disagrees: "From a technical perspective, electric cars are no more or less dangerous than vehicles with combustion engines. This also applies to the fire risk." In general, the hurdles for electromobility are surmountable. We can already see how prices are going down and ranges are going up.

However, electrification is only one component of the mobility revolution, says Fübi. What is also needed, for example, is "more safe two-wheeled traffic", which would require the creation of more cycle lanes and would be at the expense of cars in limited urban areas. According to the study, 58 percent of citizens also consider the distribution of traffic space in Germany to be unfair. According to the respondents, cyclists (51 percent) and pedestrians (41 percent) are at a particular disadvantage. Many Germans have also been complaining about congestion in city centers, air pollution and traffic jams for years.

Electric vehicles have so far been in low demand among car rental companies. "We have more e-vehicles in our fleet than demand," reported Christian Holler, Member of the Management Board of Enterprise Mobility. To change this, the rental company advises companies and holds demo days to make the e-drive tangible. According to him, a lower VAT rate for e-cars could serve as a new impetus. Financial incentives, such as the abolition of second cars, would also be advisable. However, digital vehicle registration certificates and broad access to data, for example for repair and maintenance management, are also lacking.

Wissing relies on bicycle parking garages

Olga Nevska, Head of Telekom MobilitySolutions, also complained that Germany is lagging in the electrification of the automotive sector. The Magenta Group is aiming for a completely electric fleet by 2030. Currently, however, driving an electric car is like a "heroic act". The charging infrastructure is much better in the Netherlands, for example.

"The drive turnaround does not make a mobility turnaround," said Mareike Rauchhaus, spokesperson for the bike sharing provider Nextbike, calling for fairness in favor of cyclists. 70 percent of daily journeys are less than 10 kilometers long and could easily be covered on two wheels. As the example of e-bike rental in the Eifel region combined with the S-Bahn shows, it is also possible to integrate rural areas. Incentives such as a mobility budget instead of company car privileges are long overdue. As a car can also "quickly kill" a cyclist, drivers should show more care and consideration. In terms of safety, Steffan Schaffer from the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) presented the already largely implemented idea of an app to form bicycle swarms in the form of ad hoc networks of cyclists. "Predators are less interested in these."

"The bicycle is experiencing a renaissance", said a delighted Volker Wissing (FDP), Federal Minister for Digital and Transport Affairs. This is partly due to electrification. "We have to react in terms of infrastructure", he emphasized, referring to bicycle parking garages, for example. He only touched on the topic of e-mobility, saying that charging planning is a little more complex than simply driving to a charging station. However, the charging network will continue to be expanded. Fortunately, there is also digitalization and artificial intelligence (AI) to simplify the search for a free charging station, for example. The liberal has no sympathy for resistance, for example to the initially planned completely digital Germany ticket: the paper version would lack movement and utilization data, which would again hinder digitalization as a whole.

(olb)