FLENSBURG (dpa-AFX) - Electric cars are still the exception on the used car market. Last year, pure battery-powered electric vehicles accounted for only slightly more than 1.2 percent of passenger car ownership registrations, according to data published Thursday by the Federal Motor Transport Authority. They accounted for a multiple of 17.7 percent of new registrations.

In total, the authority in Flensburg counted 69,594 ownership registrations for pure electric cars. Plug-in hybrids accounted for 66,631, or just under 1.2 percent of the total of 5.64 million passenger cars. Pure gasoline cars, on the other hand, accounted for 63 percent, and diesels 30 percent.

The gap between new registrations and used cars for electric cars and plug-in hybrids is explained primarily by the fact that their role in the car market has only been growing in the recent past. In the vehicle population, for example, pure electric cars only account for around 2 percent. In addition, many electric cars have only been on the road for a relatively short time, so they are not already being resold.

At a low level, however, the curve is pointing steeply upward: in 2021, pure electric cars accounted for only 0.7 percent of new car registrations, and in 2020, only 0.3 percent./ruc/DP/jha