The German auto industry says goodbye to the old year as we know it: with profits billions and demands for financial support from taxpayers.
The reason this time is that the expansion of the electric charging infrastructure in Germany is not progressing fast enough.
Instead of the necessary 2,000 new public charging points that would have to be installed every week, you can manage just 300. The pace, according to the spokeswoman for the speed-loving industry, will have to be sevenfold if the ramp-up of e-mobility is not to be slowed down.
The chief lobbyist's analysis may be correct. Nobody buys an electric car if they fear that they will be stranded on the country road somewhere in the middle of nowhere. The traffic light coalition has also set the goal of getting 30 million fully electric cars on the streets in Germany by 2030 and thus de facto putting an end to the combustion engine. But is that why she has a duty to open the charging network?
As a reminder: The German auto industry is selling fewer cars this year than in 2020, but profits are skyrocketing thanks to the expensive and state-subsidized electric cars. BMW alone generated a profit of 2.6 billion euros in the third quarter, and the Group's operating return on sales was an impressive 14.5 percent in the first half of the year. It is therefore not only necessary from a regulatory point of view, but also financially more than reasonable, to require the industry to largely develop the public charging infrastructure itself. But so far little of this has been seen on German roads. Only the charging stations of the American competitor Tesla catch the eye on the highways - which has probably made it easier for some e-car buyers to make a purchase decision in recent years.
On the other hand, the demand of the car lobby that politicians revive the KfW subsidy for private charging points that has just been exhausted seems more justified.
In return, they can then reduce the purchase premium for e-cars.