Investigating preferences for powertrains when buying a car in Germany

Abstract

Germany’s Federal Climate Change Act requires the transport sector to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by almost half until 2030. The government has set an ambitious goal of increasing the number of fully electric vehicles to 15 million within the same period. Data on the factors influencing the purchase of low- or zero-emission vehicles is still scarce. Based on stated preference data collected in spring 2022, we found that battery electric vehicles are the preferred choice of respondents in the hypothetical situation of buying a new car, but not in the used car market. Our results support the high demand for battery electric vehicles, suggesting that stagnating shares in new registrations could be due to supply shortages. Purchase price and energy costs are the most important factors leading to the choice of an electric powertrain, indicating that purchase premiums currently put into place in Germany are highly effective.