The price gap between electric cars and vehicles with combustion engines in Germany has continued to narrow. According to a December analysis by the Center Automotive Research (CAR) in Bochum, the difference was just €1,340. Over the full year 2024, new electric cars had still been more than €7,300 more expensive on average than comparable combustion-engine models.
The researchers track monthly transaction prices for the 20 most popular electric car models and compare them with the 20 top-selling combustion vehicles. Prices for electric cars fell steadily over the year, dropping from €38,488 in January to €34,458 by December. By contrast, the average price of a new combustion-engine car rose sharply until February to just over €33,000 and then remained largely stable for the rest of the year.
Automotive expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer pointed to the strong increase in electric vehicle market share at the same time. “Even without government subsidies, the electric car found its footing in 2025, and the key factor in this development was the price premium compared to combustion engines,” he said. “We are heading toward price parity.”
In light of this trend, Dudenhöffer argued that there should be no new subsidies for electric vehicles. “State sales incentives, as planned by the federal government, would end up being 100 percent windfall effects,” he said.
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