Petrol consumption in Germany rose for the third year in a row in 2023.
This is according to official mineral oil data from the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA).
According to the data, domestic deliveries of petrol amounted to 17.3 million tons last year. This was 416,000 tonnes more than in the previous year. Compared to the coronavirus-related low point in 2020, this is an increase of almost 1.1 million tons.
In the years before the coronavirus pandemic, petrol consumption was trending downwards - as recently as 2010, it was 19.6 million tons. In addition, the number of electric cars on German roads has also risen significantly in recent years - at the end of the year, there were 1.4 million cars.
Meanwhile, deliveries of diesel cars have continued to fall. However, the consumption figures here are largely due to lorry traffic and are therefore far more dependent on the economy than the figures for petrol.
The Federal Environment Agency attributes the development in petrol consumption primarily to an increase in mileage last year. This was above the figures for 2022 for light traffic - i.e. excluding lorries, buses and the like - although still significantly below 2019, figures from the Federal Highway Research Institute show.
The Munich-based Ifo Institute sees several possible factors for the development, including an increase in traffic volume. In addition, a switch from diesel to petrol as a result of driving bans and the reduced financial advantage of diesel vehicles could have a noticeable effect.
The economic researchers also say that there are now more heavier cars with petrol engines.
The ADAC explains this development with the increasing number of registered cars with petrol engines. The majority of hybrid vehicles must also be counted among these.
Cars with petrol engines also dominate new registrations - including hybrids - and new cars in particular generally have higher mileages, which ultimately lead to higher fuel consumption overall.
Parallel to the increase in petrol sales, another trend also continued: in 2023, Super E10, which is a few cents cheaper, accounted for more than a quarter of petrol sales for the first time at 25.9%. In 2022, it was still 23.7%, five years ago it was 13.7%. E10 can contain up to 10% biofuel.
The figures on domestic deliveries recorded in the BAFA statistics do not directly reflect the sale of petrol at filling stations, but mainly the deliveries there. However, when viewed over longer periods such as a year, this allows conclusions to be drawn about consumption.
The specific weight of diesel and petrol varies depending on the exact composition and temperature. A ton of unleaded petrol roughly corresponds to 1,300 to 1,400 litres, a ton of diesel to around 1200 litres.