Published at 11/3/2022 – E-Mobility

E-mobility in Germany: The status quo

No question: e-mobility in Germany is on the rise. More and more people are turning to electric scooters and e-cars & Co. That's a good thing. But what about e-mobility in Germany? What is the infrastructure like and what subsidies are there? We have created an overview for you.

E-mobility in Germany: We’ll update you on all of the news

Bright future ahead: It seems like the German car manufacturers and the federal government finally understood that e-mobility is the future of mobility. There are currently more than 70 electric vehicle models from German companies on the market. And around every fourth newly registered vehicle is equipped with an alternative drive. It looks even better in the field of electric scooters. They have been part of public road traffic for a long time and can compete with the performance of petrol engines. If you rely on high-quality e-scooters with a high-quality battery (such as an unu), electric scooters will have a range of 50 kilometers per battery charge. Perfect for urban traffic. With good reason, many scooter riders are now turning to e-mobility. The less good news: There is still much catching up, especially in the passenger car sector. The federal government had originally planned to reach the target of 10 million registered vehicles with alternative drives by 2030. However, previous forecasts and a study conducted by Deloitte indicate that the target will be missed by 4.3 million vehicles.

What is the federal government currently doing?

To make electric vehicles more attractive for more buyers, the federal government is providing additional incentives - such as temporary purchase incentives and bonuses (see below), the further expansion of the charging infrastructure, and tax advantages.

How is e-mobility promoted in Germany?

With the environmental bonus, the federal government is promoting purchasing electric cars and electric scooters to boost e-mobility in Germany. There are quite attractive bonuses in there. The following applies until the end of 2022: There is a subsidy of 9.000 euros for purely battery-electric vehicles up to a net list price of 40.000 euros. There is an environmental bonus of 7.500 euros for electric vehicles with a net list price of 40.000 - 65.000 euros. E-scooters are in turn, subsidized regionally. In Regensburg, for example, there is a whopping 1.000 euros bonus when buying an e-scooter from unu. The maximum amount of funding in other larger cities is similarly high. Depending on the region, there are also scrapping bonuses for vehicles with combustion engines and subsidies if you fill up with green electricity for the e-scooter. Nationwide, the spread of electric scooters is also being promoted by the fact that there are no vehicle taxes for the green two-wheelers. More information about scrappage bonuses and subsidies for e-mobility can be found here.

What about the infrastructure?

Another important point to make e-mobility in Germany even more attractive is the expansion of the infrastructure for charging stations. Because there are still far more gas stations than charging points. A total of 47.111 normal charging points and 8.094 fast charging points were reported to the Federal Network Agency that were in operation on February 1, 2022 (Source: Federal Network Agency). However, the expansion should be significantly accelerated. The federal government has an ambitious goal: expanding fast and normal charging points will be funded with 300 million euros. One million charging stations are to be created by 2030. The fast-charging stations in particular, are becoming interesting for owners of electric cars. Because here, the battery of an electric vehicle can be charged to 80 percent in around 20 minutes. For all owners of unu e-scooters, however, this information is irrelevant. And that is exactly one of the great advantages of the smart electric scooter: The battery can be easily removed from the scooter and conveniently charged at home at the unu charging station. It's hard to get anywhere cheaper, greener and less complicated.

You can find more information about battery life and charging here.

The current figures from the Federal Network Agency (and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection) clearly show that there is still a lot to do. And there is still a lot to be done in many areas. In addition to environmental bonuses and the expansion of infrastructure, the focus also lies, for example, on manufacturing electric vehicles, two-wheelers and batteries. That is why the federal government is investing more in research. The goal: to achieve the leading international position of the German automotive industry in electromobility as well. Around three billion euros have also been made available for research and development since 2009. And further investments should flow. For example, the production of lithium-ion batteries should become even greener in the future. German and European locations are increasingly becoming the focus of interest. This is because mainly renewable energy can be used in battery production, which could make the entire production process more sustainable. It looks greenish for e-mobility in Germany. However, if you don't want to wait for the future, you can already contribute with an e-scooter from unu. And at the same time, enjoy driving pleasure in its purest form.