BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - The average CO2 emissions of newly registered cars increased last year. Each new car emitted an average of just under 115 grams of CO2 per kilometer in 2023, according to the latest data from the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA). This was almost five percent more than in the previous year. The increase in the month of December is particularly striking. The average CO2 emissions per vehicle rose by around 40 percent compared to the previous year.

The main reason for this is likely to be that the purchase premium for electric cars was reduced in January 2023. As a result, many buyers had still bought in December 2022 in order to receive the full premium. This pull-forward effect was removed last December. The premium was completely canceled at short notice due to the budget realignment. The share of all-electric vehicles (BEVs) in new registrations was significantly lower.

According to the KBA, a total of more than 524,000 battery electric cars were newly registered last year. This was 11.4 percent more than in 2022, meaning that BEVs accounted for 18.4 percent of all new registrations. This is also an increase compared to the previous year: in 2022, the BEV share was still 17.7 percent./maa/DP/jha