Germany exported 520,000 electric cars in the first eight months of 2023, more than twice as much as in the same period of the previous year, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Friday.
The electric vehicles (EVs) exported had a total value of 23.9 billion euros (25.2 billion U.S. dollars). Most of the EVs were sold in Belgium, followed by the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
Although EVs are booming, cars with traditional combustion engines continued to account for the largest share of German passenger car exports. According to Destatis, 1.1 million combustion engine cars worth 42.0 billion euros were exported by the end of August.
Germany's imports of electric cars also increased and were up 66.6 percent year-on-year to 308,000 units. Important supplier countries include China, South Korea and France.
Chinese brands are gaining a foothold in Europe, Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, director of the CAR Center Automotive Research Duisburg, told Xinhua on Friday.
This is a great advantage for car buyers because of the great know-how of the Chinese in electric cars, he said. "And that is important for reducing CO2 emissions in road traffic."
Editor: Galia
