BERLIN, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Electric vehicle exported from Germany in 2019 increased by 72 percent compared with the previous year to 99,000, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) announced on Thursday.
"Electric mobility is gaining in attractiveness," Destatis noted. The "current figures on new registrations indicate growing popularity of electric vehicles in Germany, and foreign trade in such vehicles is increasing, too."
German imports of new electric vehicles also rose to 60,400 units in 2019, an increase of 39 percent, according to Destatis. Besides electric cars, the data also included electrically powered quad bikes and electric cabin scooters.
"The battery is considered to be the heart of an electric car," Destatis noted. Currently, mainly lithium-ion batteries were used for that purpose.
With a share of around 46 percent, China remained Germany's main supplier for lithium-ion batteries. Almost 106 million lithium-ion batteries worth 1.3 billion euros (1.5 billion U.S. dollars) were imported from China in 2019.
As part of the country's economic stimulus package, the German government recently doubled a purchase premium for electric cars or plug-in hybrids. According to the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (BAFA), the premium was requested almost 20,000 times in July.
However, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic noticeably slowed down Germany's exports of electric vehicles in the first half of 2020, according to Destatis. Only 41,300 new electric vehicles were exported between January and June this year, compared to 52,200 vehicles in the same period last year.
Meanwhile, Germany's imports developed positively and grew from 30,200 in the first half of 2019 to 45,300 electric vehicles in the corresponding period of 2020, according to Destatis. France remained Germany's biggest supplier of electric vehicles as almost a quarter of all imported vehicles came from the neighboring country. Enditem
