In its latest analysis, the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) has identified considerable growth in electromobility. The most important figures and current opinions on electromobility are summarized in the picture gallery below:

In terms of the share of electric mobility in the total vehicle population, Norway defends its international pioneering role: according to the analysis, around 3% of all 2.64 million cars in the Scandinavian country run on electricity. By comparison, this figure is only 0.12% in Germany. The number of cars in Norway has also almost doubled to around 79,000; every 5th new registration last year was an electric vehicle.

While customers in other countries, such as China, Japan and France, have long been predominantly buying domestic models, a positive trend is now also emerging in Germany - thanks to a growing number of German models: Of the 23,460 electric vehicles sold in Germany in 2015, a good half came from German manufacturers.

Germany must not miss the boat

"The figure of 550,000 electric vehicles produced last year clearly shows that industrialization has gained momentum," says Prof. Werner Tillmetz, ZSW Board Member and Head of the Electrochemical Energy Technologies Division. "With the continuing high growth rates, value creation around electromobility is rapidly gaining in importance. As a business location that is very strongly characterized by the automotive industry and its suppliers, we in Germany must not miss the boat. Key electromobility technologies such as the lithium-ion battery must find their place in the German production portfolio," continued Tillmetz.

The ZSW researchers surveyed cars with battery-electric drives, range extenders and plug-in hybrids. Motorcycles, trucks and buses as well as full and mild hybrid vehicles were not included. The analysis is based on data from the German Federal Motor Transport Authority and international authorities and associations, among others.