Germany exported more electric cars than it imported in 2023, the Federal Statistical Office reported on Monday.
Last year, 786,000 vehicles were exported compared to 446,000 imported from other countries, the office said. At €36 billion ($39 billion), exports were also well ahead of imports, which totalled €14.1 billion.
The most important importer was China with a share of 29%, ahead of Korea with just under 10%. Exports of purely electrically powered cars grew by 58% over the course of the year, significantly faster than imports, which increased by 23.5%.
Nevertheless, only around one in four new cars exported from Germany had an electric drive, while the rest still had combustion engines. German car companies produced 973,000 e-cars (+59.9%) compared to around 2.4 million combustion engines (+7.9%).