EV: Tens of thousands of vehicles waiting to be sold

The e-car is currently experiencing a historic low in demand in Germany, to which domestic car production has not yet been able to respond adequately. As a result, tens of thousands of EV from German and foreign manufacturers are currently languishing in Germany, waiting to be sold.

Analyst urges discount campaign for EV

It was already clear at the beginning of the year that 2024 would not be a glorious year for the electric car market. This is clearly due to the abolition of the environmental bonus. After all, the dream of owning an electric car is now a distant prospect for many average consumers. However, the market was unable to react quickly enough to the sudden drop in demand.

As a result, tens of thousands of electric cars are now sitting in stockpiles. Automotive expert Werne Olle from the Chemnitz Automotive Institute (Cati) has now been able to work this out in black and white in his own analysis. The figures are alarming. According to the researcher, almost 100,000 electric cars are currently standing around in depots or at car dealerships waiting for a buyer.

Even though a global decline in demand for EV can be observed, German manufacturers were able to post record figures in 2023. A proud 25 percent of all vehicles exported from Germany were fully electric. It is also interesting to note that 80 percent of domestic production was exported.

However, Olle warns that sales abroad alone are not promising in the long term. In particular, the stockpiling of vehicles, as is currently the case, must be stopped. After all, this is associated with immense costs. Instead, the researcher points out that EV sales need to be boosted again with discounts in order to reduce the “car stockpiles”.

Spiegel TV report made the problem public

Naturally, the car manufacturers wanted to keep the secret of the “car stockpiles” to themselves. But they probably didn’t count on Spiegel TV. In May 2024, a team of journalists reported on the huge number of unsold vehicles. It turned out that Tesla was also affected by the problem on a large scale. It was not without reason that the US manufacturer cut its prices again a few weeks ago.