Germany to fall short of electric car target

Germany is likely to miss the government’s target of bringing in one million electric cars within the next decade, according to Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel.

Merkel has said that “it looks at the moment” that Germany is not set to achieve the goal of one million cars, but that a “mass market breakthrough of demand for battery-powered cars could come very abruptly”, according to Automotive News Europe.

Sales of electric vehicles have not been high in Germany, despite discounts introduced last year and granted to buyers of green cars. Last year, there were fewer than 80,000 electric cars on German roads.

This is said to be down to the high prices of electric vehicles, limited driving range and restrictions because of a low number of charging stations.