Angela Merkel: Germany Won’t Achieve Electric Vehicle Goals
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Authorities in Germany had previously stated publicly that the country was working towards the goal of putting at least 1 million plug-in electric vehicles on its roads by 2020. It looks like this goal won’t be achieved, though, going by recent comments from German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Markel was recently quoted as telling fellow center-right CDU/CSU bloc lawmakers the following: “As it looks at the moment, we will not achieve this goal.”
There was apparently a caveat added to this line of thought, though, with the chancellor noting that a “mass market breakthrough” of the technology could change things.
As reported by Reuters: “She added, however, that a mass market breakthrough of demand for battery-powered cars could come very abruptly, as was the case with other innovations such as the introduction of the smartphone.”
And here’s some background from that coverage as well: “The sale of electric vehicles (EVs) has remained sluggish in Germany despite discounts introduced last year and granted to buyers of green cars. In 2016, there were less than 80,000 electric cars on German roads.”
“Experts say German consumers remain reluctant to buy EVs because of relatively high prices, limited driving range, and restrictions due to the low number of charging stations.”
As of the end of 2016, there were reportedly around 7,400 electric vehicle charging points of some kind or another in the country. Most of these charging points, it should be realized, likely are quite slow — and thus not necessarily practical for many people (though much depends on location — e.g., shopping districts, restaurants, etc., are practical even if the charging is relatively slow).
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