German drivers covered more kilometers for the first time in 2022!

German drivers covered more kilometers for the first time in 2022!

Halle, Deutschland - The streets in Germany are getting full again. For the first time since 2018, the number of kilometers traveled has increased with passenger cars (car). In 2022, all approved cars covered a total of 594 million kilometers, which corresponds to an increase of 3 million kilometers compared to the previous year, as the Zevener Zeitung reported. This development comes at a time when the domestic mileage of cars had dropped five years in a row. It is particularly noteworthy that the distance covered corresponds to the multiple of the distance from the earth to the sun.

What is the reason for this sudden increase? According to the experts, this is primarily due to the higher vehicle population. There are currently over 69.1 million approved vehicles in Germany, including about 49 million cars, does a good business, the Kraftfahr-bundamt . The most frequently used fuel types are gasoline (61.6%) and diesel (28.8%), although the stock of gasoline car is slightly declining.

The dominance of the combustion engine

It can be observed that the majority of the route is covered with combustion vehicles: gasoline engines reached around 283 million kilometers, while diesel slightly after around 230 million kilometers. These figures show that driving still remains a popular means of transportation in Germany, even if negative aspects such as clogged streets and increasing maintenance costs are not to be overlooked, as Destatis Interestingly, diesel vehicles are extremely popular with frequent drivers, as their purchase is usually profitable with high annual mileage. Petrol engine is currently moving an average of 9,555 kilometers, while Diesel bring it to an impressive 16,984 kilometers. Despite the fact that there is more petrol engines than diesel, significantly more diesel is consumed in Germany.

The future of car driving

A look into the future shows that alternative drives such as electrical and hybrid vehicles are becoming more important. In 2023, Germany recorded an increase in the new registrations of electric cars by 39.1% to around 1.4 million. For hybrid cars, the increase was even 24.5% to around 2.9 million. This could be a sign of the growing interest in more environmentally friendly mobility solutions.

Overall, a mixed picture shows: While the car density in Germany in 2023 has reached a maximum of 588 cars per 1,000 inhabitants, emissions in road traffic are still worrying. The EU-wide CO2 emissions are 24% above the level of 1990, and the number of traffic fatalities in Germany remains at a high level, with over 2,800 annual victims.

The EU's traffic policy pursues the ambitious goal of halving the number of racing dead and seriously injured by 2030. Under the motto "Vision Zero", the European Commission even strives for almost no traffic dead until 2050. It remains to be hoped that this vision will become a reality in the future.