© Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. Based on data from the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA)

Great prospects for electric mobility

Electric vehicle (EV) registrations hit a record high in 2025, bouncing back after a brief dip. With a new government incentive programme, attractive tax breaks, and exciting technological trends, 2026 promises to be an especially rewarding year to go electric.

Quiet, cutting-edge, and eco-friendly: electric cars are increasingly a common sight on Germany’s roads. Registrations of battery-powered cars surged again at the turn of 2025/2026, according to the latest data from the Federal Motor Transport Authority and the dena monitoring report New registrations of passenger cars with electric drives 2025.

In 2025, fully electric vehicles (BEVs) made up 19.1% of all new car registrations – surpassing the 18.4% recorded in 2023. This recovery follows a dip to 13.5% in 2024, caused by a temporary pause in subsidies. Compared with the challenging “crisis year” of 2024, BEV registrations jumped 43.2% to 545,142 vehicles in 2025. December 2025 alone saw a market share of 22.2% – the highest since purchase incentives were withdrawn two years ago.

^{Domestic EV market share climbs to 63%}

In the commercial sector, electric cars overtook combustion engines for the first time in November 2025, becoming the most popular drivetrain for fleet registrations. German brands benefitted especially from tax advantages for company cars, pushing domestic EV market share to a record 63% in 2025. Alongside 311,398 newly registered plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), which surged 62.3%, around 30% of all new cars last year came with an external charging port. By the end of 2025, roughly two million fully electric cars were on German roads – about 4.1% of the total passenger car fleet of roughly 49.6 million vehicles.

^{Incentives, tax breaks, and technological trends fuel growth}

Thanks to a new €3 billion government incentive programme, EV registrations are gearing up for another year of strong growth in 2026. The scheme makes it easier for private buyers to switch to climate-neutral mobility while strengthening Germany’s automotive industry. It applies to vehicles newly registered by private buyers – whether purchased or leased – from 1 January 2026. Q&As on the new EV incentive programme (as of 19 January 2026) can be found here.

Tax exemptions for BEVs have now been extended until 2035 (for first registrations up to the end of 2030). The price cap for the 0.25% company car tax has also risen to €100,000. Changes to the Energy Industry Act mean that bidirectional charging (V2G) will become economically attractive from 2026, as the double burden of network charges is removed.