Statistical Analysis of price and market trends of battery electric and combustion engine vehicles in Germany from 2020 to 2025

One of the major barriers in the transition to battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in Germany is afforda-bility and lower availability of BEV models compared to internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs). This report examines the development of vehicle prices, model availability, and other vehicle char-acteristics in Germany from 2020 to 2025 amongst six different vehicle segments. These include vehicles in the mini, small, lower medium, medium, upper medium, and luxury segments. We find that ICEV model availability in Germany has declined from 2020 to 2025, while BEV model availa-bility has continuously climbed amongst all segments in the same period. The largest gap between available ICEV and BEV models exists in the mini and small segments whereas in the medium and upper medium segments, the gap has almost closed. A lack of available BEVs in the mini and small segments can pose additional challenges to those with lower incomes who depend on affordable models that tend to be smaller in size.
From 2020 to 2025, the range of BEVs in Germany has increased across segments. The ranges of small BEVs have increased to mean ranges of around 250-350 km type approval range, with a typ-ical minimum range of 200 km achieved. For the larger segments, these ranges are even higher, where medium segment vehicles offer 400-500 km, and premium models that are typically high-range can exceed 700 km. The largest improvements in range have been observed in the lower medium and upper medium segments, especially when compared to the smaller segments.
The prices of BEVs and ICEVs in Germany have developed from 2020 to 2025 and show mixed results. The median costs of BEVs have been increasing due to the development of luxury and upper medium BEV model offerings, relative to the small and mini segments, and in part due to advance-ments in battery capacity. However, this trend doesn’t hold when vehicle characteristics are held constant in a fixed-effect regression approach. This methodology, which isolates price changes within models, shows that BEV prices have remained constant in nominal terms and have even become cheaper when adjusted for inflation, at around -17% in 2025 compared to 2020. This is, in part, due to the reduction in the costs of battery production. For ICEVs, both descriptive averages and the fixed-effect regression show consistent annual price increases of about 4.5% at the same time, leading to a real price increase of about 2%. This price change can be attributed to general cost pressures, regulatory requirements, and a shift towards prioritizing BEV development.
From a consumer’s perspective, both the median and real cost changes matter, as these reflect higher BEV prices overall, yet cheaper real costs of comparable BEV models over time. As technol-ogy and BEV offerings continue to develop in a rapidly evolving BEV market, policymakers and OEMs can improve the affordability of BEVs through several approaches. Policy makers can pro-mote more affordable BEV models through targeted incentives that limit the higher list prices of larger, luxury models, while maintaining current regulations on fleetwide emissions. Additionally, the introduction of social BEV leasing programs with smaller BEV models offered will also help promote affordable development. OEMs can prioritize a reduction in the sizes of BEVs and batteries to offer a mass market vehicle that is affordable to a broader majority.