Electric vehicle production in the European Union is expected to “multiply six-fold” between 2019 and 2025, according to analysis of forecast data by clean transport campaign group Transport and Environment. T&E expects 4 million electric cars and vans to be produced in the EU in 2025, amounting to around a fifth of all cars produced in the region. “Electric cars are about to go mainstream in Europe, and 2020/2021 is likely to be a tipping point for the market,” the study says. Between them, Peugeot, Renault-Nissan, and German makers Volkswagen and Daimler are expected to produce two thirds of electric vehicles in the EU. Germany is forecast to produce the second-highest number of electric vehicles per capita after Slovakia, at 19 cars per thousand inhabitants. “Until recently, the EV (electric vehicle, ed.) market was limited to a niche of early adopters but tomorrow’s landscape will be very different as EVs enter a new phase and near the mass market,” T&E says. The EU recently agreed on new fleet-wide CO2 emission reduction targets for 2025 and 2030. By 2025, CO2 emissions from cars and vans should be cut by 15 percent, compared to 2021 levels. “If carmakers stick to their plans” this target should be met, T&E says.

In January 2019, about 83,000 pure electric and 340,000 hybrid passenger cars were registered in Germany. In comparison, a total of 47 million passenger cars were registered in 2018, according to the Federal Motor Transport Authority (Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt). German transport emissions have stayed flat between 1990 and 2018 and are the main reason why Germany will miss its 2020 climate target. Passenger cars are the sector’s major culprit, accounting for more than half of all transport emissions. German carmakers have now woken up to the challenge, betting on e-cars for the future.