Battery-Electric vehicles accounted for a record 37% of new-car registrations in Germany in October, according to figures from the country’s Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA). The 94,086 registrations were 79.5% higher than the 52,425 recorded a year earlier.

The overall market grew only 1.7% to 254,492 vehicles. Gasoline registrations fell 40.5% to 38,516, while diesel registrations dropped 21.6% to 23,882. Together, the two fuel types represented 24.5% of new registrations, compared with 37% for BEVs. Plug-in hybrids declined 7.9% to 28,499, giving plug-in vehicles a combined market share of about 48%.

The BEV share has risen each month since June, when electric cars first became Germany’s most popular powertrain, at 28.4%. It reached 32.4% in August and 34.5% in September before setting the new high in October. Average emissions from newly registered cars fell 21.1% year over year to 79.4 grams of CO2 per kilometer.

Germany registered 698,230 BEVs in the first ten months of 2026, an increase of 60.7% from the same period a year earlier. They made up about 28.2% of the 2,476,290 new cars registered so far this year, compared with roughly 19% for all of 2025. The tally has already surpassed the 693,000 BEVs forecast for the full year by the German auto industry association, VDA.

A new government incentive offers €3,000 for a new BEV bought or leased, with support of up to €6,000 for eligible lower-income households with children. The scheme applies retroactively to vehicles registered from January 1. KBA figures show private registrations rose 20.6% in October, while commercial registrations fell 8.2%; private buyers accounted for 40.7% of the market.

Among manufacturers, BYD recorded 5,173 German registrations in October, up 54.3%, and reached 47,961 for the year to date. Tesla registered 2,932 vehicles in October and 47,742 year to date. The source notes that most of BYD’s German sales are plug-in hybrids rather than fully electric cars. Volkswagen Group models led the cited EV rankings through September: the Skoda Elroq had 30,845 registrations, ahead of the Tesla Model Y at 29,464 and the VW ID.3 at 24,352.

Sources: Electrek.