Germany tops two million battery-electric cars in circulation
For the first time, the number of battery-electric passenger cars registered in Germany has surpassed two million. According to the country’s Federal Motor Transport Authority, the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA), a total of just over two million fully electric cars were on German roads as of 1 January 2026.
The authority reports not only steady long-term growth but also accelerating momentum in recent years. The number of battery-electric cars has risen from just 34,022 vehicles in 2017 to more than two million in 2026 – an almost sixtyfold increase within nine years. A particularly strong upswing has been evident since 2020, with the one-million mark first crossed in 2023.
In 2025 alone, the German BEV fleet grew by 382,617 vehicles. For comparison, the stock stood at 1,651,643 units on 1 January 2025. The latest increase thus exceeds the growth recorded a year earlier (242,962 BEVs), although it remains slightly below the jump seen between 2023 and 2024, when the fleet expanded by 395,672 electric cars.
At the same time, the net increase of 382,617 battery-electric cars indicates that a considerable number of EVs left the fleet – whether due to write-offs or exports. This is because new registrations in Germany reached a record 545,142 battery-electric cars in 2025.
According to the KBA, the regional distribution of electric cars varies markedly across Germany’s federal states. The authority points to pronounced differences between regions.
North Rhine-Westphalia accounts for the largest stock, with 454,783 battery-electric cars. It is followed by Bavaria (395,271) and Baden-Württemberg (322,060). Lower Saxony (221,823) and Hesse (179,213) have also surpassed the 100,000 mark, while Rhineland-Palatinate is close to reaching that threshold.
Overall, most battery-electric cars are concentrated in the larger federal states in western and southern Germany. According to the KBA, the data show that electric mobility is now present across the country, even though regional disparities remain.
In eastern German states such as Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the BEV share of the total passenger car fleet ranges between 2.0 and 2.3 per cent. This is still below the levels seen in the three city-states: Bremen (3.5 per cent), Berlin (4.0 per cent) and Hamburg (5.3 per cent).
In its latest communication, the KBA focuses exclusively on the more than two million battery-electric cars currently registered in Germany and provides further breakdowns for BEVs. It does not include updated stock figures for other powertrain types such as plug-in hybrids.
Update 3 March 2026
A few days after announcing that more than two million electric cars are on Germany’s roads, the country’s Federal Motor Transport Authority (Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt, KBA) has published the full vehicle stock figures as of 1 January 2026. The data show that 2,034,260 battery-electric cars account for 4.1 per cent of the total vehicle fleet in Europe’s largest automotive market.
The detailed breakdown also provides insight into other powertrain types. Germany counts 1,122,958 plug-in hybrids, corresponding to a 2.3 per cent share of the overall fleet. This segment grew by 16.1 per cent year on year. Hybrid passenger cars – defined by the KBA as vehicles with two different energy converters – increased by 22.6 per cent to 4,362,563 units, giving them a share of 8.8 per cent. This figure includes plug-in hybrids. As of the reporting date, 1,575 fuel cell vehicles were registered, marking a 12.6 per cent decline within one year. Rounded to one decimal place, fuel cell cars account for 0.0 per cent of the total fleet.
Across all drive types, Germany has around 61.3 million registered motor vehicles (+0.4 per cent), including 49,486,487 passenger cars (+0.3 per cent). While hybrid models now consistently lead new car registrations and diesel vehicles have fallen behind battery-electric cars and even plug-in hybrids in monthly sales statistics, the composition of the overall fleet still reflects legacy structures. Petrol cars number 29.3 million and account for 59.3 per cent of all passenger cars in Germany, although their total declined by 1.9 per cent year on year. Diesel cars fell by 3.2 per cent to 13.4 million units, yet still represent 27.0 per cent of the fleet. Overall, combustion engine vehicles continue to decline in the stock figures, while electrified powertrains steadily increase their share.
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