E-cars – they are so cheap now and so long you have to wait

Tempting rewards
The boom in electric cars – that’s how cheap they are now and how long you have to wait

by Gernot Kramper
10/13/2021, 6:51 am

The federal government has extended funding for e-vehicles and plug-in hybrids until 2025, and that is popular with consumers. On the “Carwow” platform, where interested parties can get specific vehicle offers from dealers, the Stromer is now dominating the market. 44 percent of customer inquiries are aimed at purely electric cars; together with the hybrid plug-in configurations, the electric vehicles reach 61 percent. On the Carwow website, you can pre-configure a vehicle according to your own wishes – the interested party receives specific offers within a short time – but not from anonymous providers somewhere in Germany, but from specific dealers in the region.

“Today the subsidy meets a wide and attractive range of vehicles, which was not the case two years ago,” explains Philipp Sayler von Amende, CEO and co-founder of carwow Germany. So the demand is increasing. “Of the top 20 models that we configure and inquire about, 17 are purely electric.”

In addition to the promotion, the high fuel prices also play a role in the growing interest. Germans realize that the era of comparatively cheap fuel is coming to an end. There are also shocking pictures of the gas station queues from Great Britain.

And the savings compared to the list price are still great thanks to the promotion. It reaches up to 54 percent with the smart EQ fortwo.

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Thanks to the system of fixed premiums, the percentage savings are naturally greatest with smaller and cheaper models. In addition, there are discount campaigns by the manufacturers with which the older models are promoted. Older series still have a hard time, the differences from one generation to the next are too great. “With electric, the big factor is still the battery and that has an impact on the purchase decision. People accept less range if the price is right. This is how older models or models with a shorter range such as the Renault Twingo Electric also sell, the BMW i3 and the Dacia Spring are still good because these models come with either attractive offers or a very low entry price. Here, the “price range” is decisive, i.e. the real price that has to be paid for the range of the e-cars. ” The most popular vehicles aren’t the cheapest either. Here one sees similar tendencies as with conventional drives. The compact class dominates, most in demand in an SUV or cross-over variant.

Top 10 most popular electric / plug-in hybrid models at Carwow

1. Skoda Enyaq iV

2. Hyundai Ioniq 5

3. VW ID.3

4. Audi Q4 e-tron

5. Renault Zoe

6. Dacia Spring

7. VW ID.4

8. FIAT 500 electric

9. Opel Corsa-e

10. Mercedes-Benz EQA

For a long time, the market was also determined by the long delivery times of e-vehicles (read: “The delivery times of e-cars put off buyers – not the price and not the range”). With the onset of massive federal funding, demand exploded, but at times not enough vehicles could be delivered. It looks different today. “In terms of delivery times, the situation has eased extremely,” said Philipp Sayler from Amende.

“The situation has eased extremely in terms of delivery times,” said Philipp Sayler from Amende. “It’s a mixed picture. There are cars like oneYou can get a Tesla Model 3 or a Polestar 2 relatively quickly. In about two or three months. These manufacturers also have many vehicles in their inventory that they can have immediately. ”In addition, the chip crisis has also increased the delivery times for gasoline and diesel vehicles. In the meantime, you have to wait longer for a combustion engine than for an electric vehicle “During the chip crisis, manufacturers prioritized e-vehicles. The chips that were delivered were assigned to them. And this prioritization will stay that way. “Even so, e-vehicles cannot escape this bottleneck in electronic components, delivery times are tending to increase again.