Der Spiegel reports: Germany’s e-car industry is a crisis headed for a catastrophe. New Tesla unsold cars are now being parked in an old airfield [pictured above]. [emphasis, links added]
Germany’s 2030 E-Car Target Now A Lunatic Fantasy
Sales of e-cars in Germany are plummeting, signaling more trouble for the country’s move to a green society. Overall, for Q1 2024 EV sales declined by around 14.1% compared to Q1 2023. For Tesla, the picture is much uglier.
Just days ago, leftist online news magazine Der Spiegel published a video report looking at Tesla sales in Germany: “Friedhof der E-Autos – Die Mobilität der Zukunft steckt in der Krise” (Graveyard of e-cars – the mobility of the future is stuck in crisis).
Though the country would like to blame something else other than its terrible policies, this misery is not due to the Ukraine War.
As Spiegel reports, the cars are just too expensive and impractical, and the government has stopped subsidizing sales.
35% Drop In Tesla New Registrations
Der Spiegel focuses on Tesla’s Gigafactory located in Grünheide, roughly 30 kilometers southeast of central Berlin. The once electrifying future for the e-car maker has since turned into a huge nightmare.
Though the Grünheide plant continues to churn out e-cars, Der Spiegel looks at where the hundreds of truckloads of e-cars are being shipped. Unfortunately for Tesla, many are not going toward paying customers.
In Q1 of 2023, 20,000 new Teslas were registered in Germany, according to Der Spiegel. But this year in Q1, only 13,000 were registered – a whopping 35% drop!
Storage At An Old Airfield
Der Spiegel reporters followed the Tesla transport trucks and discovered that many were being shipped to an old airfield for storage.
In the report, a Tesla security officer, however, arrives (in an internal combustion engine car) and refuses [to allow] Spiegel to take photos of the embarrassing situation (4:24 mark). Tesla management refuses to comment on the mass electric car storage.
Overall in Germany, e-cars of just about every type have lost their attractiveness, and buyers are shunning them.
Green Fantasy
As the popularity of electric cars in Germany tanks, the government’s 2030 target of getting 15 million e-vehicles on the road now looks like a lunatic fantasy.
Top image of unsold EVs at an airport via Der Spiegel/YouTube screencap
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