The number of passenger cars with alternative drive systems rose from around 704,000 vehicles in 2015 to around 900,000 in 2019 (an increase of around 28%). Passenger cars that run on natural gas (CNG) or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) make up the largest group of vehicles with alternative drive systems in the current vehicle population (around 476,000 passenger cars in 2019). This is followed by hybrid vehicles with more than 340,000 passenger cars, whose numbers have tripled since 2015. The development of the plug-in hybrid stock is even more pronounced: in the period from 2015 to 2019, the number increased 13-fold. For pure electric cars, the number rose to 83,175 vehicles in 2019. This trend continues for all alternative drive types – except for gas vehicles. In January 2020, 136,617 purely electric passenger cars were already registered; a further increase of 64% compared to 2019. A long-term observation both of the vehicle market and accident occurrence of vehicles with alternative drive technologies in Germany is required, in order to be able to analyze future developments and to identify any possible adverse effects on road traffic safety. In 2010, the Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt) started the survey on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure. The technical development of vehicles with alternative drive technologies is described in chapter 2 of this report. In chapter 3 and 4 the stock and the accidents of the mentioned vehicles are assessed. (Author/publisher)
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