What about electric cars in Germany?
In the semi-annual BearingPoint E-Mobility trend barometer, we once again surveyed over two thousand potential car buyers in Germany about their views on electric driving and an e-car as their potential next car. The results for the beginning of the year are unsurprising at first glance, but also contain a few new insights. Curious?
How many e-cars will there be in the near future?
The core of the regular survey is the question of whether respondents plan to buy an e-car as their next car. This question is now answered in the affirmative by 25%, or one in four. Compared with the two surveys last year, this is a consistent increase in the figure and a tidy 19% year-on-year increase.
However, the alternative to the e-car is not only the combustion engine, but above all the clear commitment that one does not want to buy a car. And that’s where an interesting detail of the survey is hidden. The proportion of those who can manage without a car has fallen massively compared with the previous year (2021: 37%, 2022: 26%) and now leaves room for speculation: Did everyone postpone investments during Corona and simply indicate not wanting to buy a car due to time constraints? Is mobility increasing drastically again compared to 2021 and is the car thus coming back into focus? Is an e-car possibly even an alibi for ecologically sustainable people to drive around more again? Whatever the reason for this significant change, individual mobility is and remains very important.
Looking at the registration figures, the statistics therefore still leave potential for improvement: In January 2022, 11.3% of new registrations in Germany were registered as pure e-cars and 10.3% as plug-in hybrids. In view of the currently long delivery times, however, one can certainly question whether the purchase of a new car or its delivery is the limiting factor here in the end.
So who are those who want to choose an e-car?
In essence, it has to be said that electro-mobility excites those who have already experienced electric driving. 51% of those who have already driven an e-car also want to switch to e-mobility (or stick with it). For manufacturers and car dealers, this results in a clear and unambiguous message if they want to promote electric vehicles: Let customers test drive! Access to the electric driving experience must be easy and attract people, be it through special test drive campaigns, events, experience weekends and many more possibilities — if the corresponding models are currently available at all.
A detailed look at the online survey of the Trendbarometer shows that there are strong regional differences. Electric cars currently seem to be taking over the market primarily from conurbations. At least this is what a look at the map of Germany suggests, where the figures for Berlin, Hamburg, Bavaria and Rhineland-Palatinate are more than twice as high as in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, with around 30% “yes” to the e-car. Less surprisingly, the proportion of potential e-car buyers with residential property (34%) is significantly higher than those without (18%) — after all, it helps enormously to have one’s own charging facility for one’s e-car at the ready.
And which car will they buy now, the e-car drivers?
Do you also feel that only electric cars are being advertised, regardless of make and model? If the impression is correct, the agencies and marketing managers must be praised. The advertising is catching on! Across all brands, the EV trend barometer shows increased values for the question of which brands would be considered for an e-car purchase (with multiple selection). The Volkswagen Group, with its core brands VW, Skoda and Seat (42%), leads the field in terms of potential buyers, which, in addition to its clear orientation in the last two years, is certainly also due to its large current market share in Germany.
That Tesla is also far ahead in terms of e-mobility (28%) is hardly surprising. However, the increase compared to the previous year also shows here that Tesla is now no longer just an American exotic on German roads, but is more than accepted by customers as an automaker.
The German premium manufacturers are close together: While Audi is ahead (probably also thanks to the e-tron, which has been available for a long time), Mercedes has made the most gains. The strongly increasing product portfolio of electric vehicles reflects this 1:1 in my opinion. BMW was already quite high here, especially in the previous year’s statistics, and can also increase the approval rating again.
Among the volume manufacturers, the growth of Opel in particular stands out in the favor of e-car drivers. Compared to the previous year, the brand, which now belongs to Stellantis, was able to increase its positioning as an e-car brand by 70%.
Why an electric car? Or why not?
Looking at the answers to the question of why people want to buy an e-car, the BearingPoint e-mobility trend barometer still puts ecological aspects first. However, with the trend growing strongly, potential buyers are currently also looking at maintenance and service costs. This is not only due to rising fuel prices, but also to increasingly expensive workshop visits and spare parts in recent years.
Those who don’t want to buy an electric car still have the “usual” arguments against the new technology at the ready: too little range, too few charging options and too high a purchase price. The latter in particular still plays a major role, as the music is still essentially played in the high-priced vehicle segment. And when it comes to charging options, I share the concern in principle and am convinced that an e-car currently makes sense above all if you can charge it yourself either at home or at work.
Conclusion: E-mobility is coming!
In my opinion, electric driving has long since passed the tipping point for market penetration. E-cars will be the clear future — but not necessarily immediately for everyone. And I don’t just mean those who will simply continue to drive their gasoline-powered cars for another 30 years, but also those mobility requirements that cannot yet be satisfactorily met, at least not at present, such as a halfway satisfactory range in trailer operation (e.g., with a caravan). In the short term, the main question will be how the product, prices and availability will continue to develop. The VW e-Up is a good example for me here, as it is very well demanded by customers — but Volkswagen cannot or does not want to scale up its range. So in the end, even if a few thousand models that can be ordered are now apparently being launched again, it will be a case of shortage management for the car dealerships and their customers. These must calculate now, in February 2022 already sharply. The current e-car subsidy expires at the end of 2022 from today’s perspective. Will that still be enough for delivery? If e-mobility is to continue to conquer the market, manufacturers and politicians will have to come up with a solution in the short term to attract buyers.
Source: BearingPoint Trendbarometer Elektromobilität 3.0 — https://www.bearingpoint.com/de-de/ueber-uns/pressemitteilungen-und-medienberichte/pressemitteilungen/pluspunkt-e-auto-geringe-unterhalts-und-servicekosten/
The original article was published in German on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/wie-stehts-um-die-elektromobilit%C3%A4t-stefan-mueller/
