IT’S A GAS, GAS, GAS: EV Sales Run Out of Juice in Europe as Germans Tighten Belts.

Automotive executives in Germany have been warning about an approaching cliff in EV sales for months, blaming the impending gloom on a combination of high manufacturing costs at home and a government decision to end incentives for consumers.

The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, known as ACEA, said Thursday that sales of new EVs collapsed in Germany last month, when fully electric-car sales plunged 48% and plug-in hybrid sales tumbled 74%. Overall, new-car sales in the country declined 23% in December, compared with growth rates of 14.5% and 11% in France and Spain respectively.

The ACEA data showed that most of Europe was either still growing or muddling through in December as German car sales ran off the road. New-car registrations in the region, a proxy for actual sales, fell 3.3% in December compared with a year ago. Registrations finished the month at about 867,000. Sales rose 14% to 10.5 million for the entire year.

Why do Germans need cars at all when the country seems obsessed with deindustrializing?