Car buyers in Germany shifting back to gas-powered vehicles after trying out EVs

10/17/2024 / By Ramon Tomey

Car buyers in Germany are switching back to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles powered by gasoline or diesel after trying out electric vehicles (EVs).

Remix News reported on this finding, citing data from Huk-Coburg, Germany’s largest auto insurance company. According to the firm’s numbers, 34 percent of all EV owners switched back to an ICE vehicle when purchasing a new vehicle so far this year.

This number was 28 percent last year, while it was 17.5 percent in 2022. Only 14.2 percent of EV owners shifted back to an ICE car in 2021, as per Huk-Coburg.

The media outlet noted that while EVs are described as “the wave of the future,” the numbers from Huk-Coburg “show that many EV owners may be very unsatisfied with the performance of their vehicles.”

“Many of the Germans who initially dipped their toes into the EV revolution certainly did not do so because of any mandates. Many may have been lured to EVs – including subsidies offered by the German government for e-car purchases, environmental concerns, the novelty and status presented by these vehicles and other desirable features seen in higher-end vehicles such as Tesla.”

“In short, many of these people went into their electric car purchase with an open mind – and perhaps even enthusiasm for what they saw as the future of automobile transportation.”

Despite this, Remix News pointed out that the numbers released by Huk-Coburg are “sure to raise questions about the [European Union’s] new law that will completely ban combustion engines for all new vehicles by 2035.” (Related: EU lawmakers approve effective 2035 ban on new fossil fuel cars.)

The market has spoken – customers prefer gas guzzlers

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, played a key role in pushing for the ICE vehicle ban. In turn, Germany’s coalition government led by the Social Democratic Party, Alliance 90/The Greens party and the liberal Free Democratic Party has thoroughly supported the so-called “climate-friendly transport transition.”

But the data from the auto insurance agency proves that car buyers completely reject this trend. Owners of ICE cars have been purchasing electric vehicles at a record-low rate since this data first started being tracked. A measly 3.6 percent of ICE owners are going green and switching to EVs this year, per Huk-Coburg data.

On the other side of the fence, Germany’s EV market is collapsing. According to the auto insurance firm, electric cars only make up 2.9 percent of the German car market. This fell to a new record low after a state subsidy was removed, Remix News noted.

“The [German] federal government’s goal of 15 million electric cars by 2030 is already impossible to achieve,” said Sascha Coccorullo, head of strategy at the General German Automobile Club, early this year. He added that even optimistically, only “a stock of 8.6 million electric cars is possible” in that year.

“The fact that these early adopters are opting out means that future waves of motorists who are actually ‘forced’ by legal means to abandon combustion vehicles may be outraged if their EVs do not offer the performance they have come to expect,” the news outlet ultimately concluded.

“Despite claims that the technology will only improve over time, it appears that each year, more and more Germans are making the switch back to combustion engines.”

Head over to GreenDeal.news for more stories about EVs.

Watch this video explaining that EVs cost more than traditional ICE vehicles to run.

This video is from the TruthAndFreedom1 channel on Brighteon.com.