2022 (Full Year) Germany: Best-Selling Electric Cars by Brand and Model

In full-year 2022, Tesla was the best-selling electric car brand in Germany with the Model Y and 3 being the favorite battery-electric cars.

2022 (January to December): Tesla was Germany’s best-selling electric car brand followed by Volkswagen and Hyundai. New battery-electric vehicle registrations in Germany increased by a third to a record 470,559 cars for an 18% share of the total German new car market in 2022. The top-selling electric car models were the Tesla Model Y, Tesla Model 3, and Fiat 500.

In 2022 (full year), the German new car market grew by 1.1% to 2,651,357 new passenger vehicle registrations, Volkswagen remained the best-selling brand, the VW Golf the top-selling car model, and the Tesla Model Y the favorite battery-electric car.

German Car Sales Statistics — 2022: Market Overview, Brands, Models, Electric; 2021: Market, Brands, Models, Electric; 2020: Market, Brands, Models, Electric; 2019: Market, Brands, Models, Electric

New Electric Car Sales in Germany in 2022 (Full Year)

New electric passenger vehicle registrations in Germany in 2022 increased by 32% to 470,559 battery electric cars. Although that led to a new record 17.7% market share of the total German new car market, the growth in electric car sales was much slower than in recent years. (The total German new car market expanded by only 1.1% in 2022.) Component shortages and other supply-chain problems led to a shortage in cars — both electric and conventional — for all manufacturers. Waiting lists for new cars are several months long with many popular car models not available for well over a year.

There was a sudden boom in electric (and PHEV) registrations in Germany in the final months of the year, as government incentives are changing from January 2023. PHEV will no longer receive any direct subsidies and battery-electric car subsidies are smaller and more restrictive. Given the long waiting lists many economists questioned whether any incentives should be paid at all.

Although electric car sales in Germany were at an all-time high in 2022, total BEV sales were still 10,000 units less than the entire number of cars sold by Volkswagen alone.

Best-Selling Electric Car Brands in Germany in 2022

The 20 best-selling electric car brands in Germany in the full-year 2022 according to the KBA were:

There was quite a shake-up in the rank order of the top-selling electric car brands in Germany in full-year 2022 — Peugeot at 10th was the only top-20 brand in the same position as in 2021.

In 2022, Tesla was the top-selling electric car brand in Germany for the first time since 2019. Despite Volkswagen’s larger model range, VW failed to maintain its leading position from the previous two years and sold fewer electric cars in Germany in 2022 than in 2021.

Hyundai improved on position while Fiat shot up to fourth from 11th. Opel improved one position and Audi three. Renault slipped from third with the Zoe — long the top-selling electric car in Germany — now firmly falling behind newer models but Renault is likely to gain ground with the new electric Megane. Mercedes entered the top-ten from 12th while BMW slipped two positions.

Several early movers were at least temporarily overtaken by newer offerings. Renault sales were lower while Smart is down to 14th while waiting for a new model, which is totally out of sync with the struggling brand’s previous cars. Nissan similarly fell out of the top 20, as did Porsche with lower electric car sales than in 2021.

MG Roewe, Polestar, and Volvo are all new brands in the electric top-20 list for Germany.

Best-Selling Electric Car Models in Germany in 2022

The 20 best-selling electric car models in Germany in the full-year 2022 according to the KBA were:

The Tesla Model Y was the best-selling electric car model in Germany in 2022 followed by the Model 3. The Fiat 500 was the third most popular electric car model confirming that car buyers are also keen on smaller affordable cars and not only SUVs.

The Volkswagen electric SUV duo (ID4 and ID5) was fourth followed by the ID3. The announcement that the ID3 production run was sold out until the third quarter of 2023 when an update will become available confirmed that the capability to deliver cars to buyers is still playing a more important role in the new vehicle registration figures than outright desirability.

The Hyundai Kona was sixth followed by the Opel Corsa. The small and relatively cheap Dacia Spring is a new entry while the Hyundai Ioniq5 was the ninth most-popular electric car in Germany in 2022.

The VW Up rounded out the top ten with availability (and price increase) limiting registrations.

Three electric car models long at or near the top of the best-selling list in Germany but likely to be absent in the future are the Renault Zoe, which is unlikely to be replaced by a direct model, and the BMW i3 and Smart Fortwo that were both taken out of production during 2022.

German Car Sales Statistics — 2022: Market Overview, Brands, Models, Electric; 2021: Market, Brands, Models, Electric; 2020: Market, Brands, Models, Electric; 2019: Market, Brands, Models, Electric