CO2 emissions increase significantly: Significant decrease in electric vehicles at the beginning of the year

CO2 emissions increase dramatically
A significant decrease in electric vehicles at the beginning of the year

05/27/2023 04:59 am

Is the e-car craze already over? In the first four months of the year, the number of new vehicles registered decreased significantly. According to expert Dudenhöffer, this is due to reduced funding. At the same time, CO2 emissions are increasing significantly.

New cars registered this year so far emit more CO2 than in 2022. The Federal Motor Transport Authority gives the average value of a car from January to April as 123.2 grams per kilometer. In contrast, the average for 2022 was only 109.6 grams.

The main reason for this can also be found in the KBA statistics: the proportion of electric cars only and plug-in hybrids has fallen sharply since the beginning of the year. Although they accounted for around 30 percent of new registrations in 2022, from January to April it was only around 20 percent. “This is revenge that funding has been cut,” says industry expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer. “This has taken the breath out of the plug-in mix in particular and has fallen compared to last year’s very strong.”

Because pure electric cars do not emit any CO2 and plug-in hybrids emit much less CO2 than pure combustion engines, at least according to official statistics, they lower the overall average. In 2022, the values ​​for clean combustion engines were 150.5 grams per kilometer for gasoline engines and even 168 grams for diesel.

The KBA figures also show which brands have the highest average CO2 emissions per kilometer for new registrations from January to April. Lamborghini and Rolls Royce are at the forefront of passenger cars over 300 grams – although they have very few new registrations. Among the big brands with at least 10,000 new cars registered since the beginning of the year, Porsche has the highest value at 208.2 grams. The three main German brands are close together, but also above average: According to the KBA, Mercedes has an average value of 136.4 grams, Audi 135.5 and BMW 133.7 grams. VW comes in at 129.8 grams, Opel in 114, 5.