Germany to have 1 million electric cars by 2022

Germans are beginning to embrace electric cars, with experts predicting the country will have a million hybrid or battery-electric vehicles on the road by 2022.

The government originally aimed to have that many e-cars in Germany by 2020, but slow uptake in the land of the Autobahn forced it to abandon that goal.

A government advisory panel said Wednesday that recent additional financial incentives for buyers have helped provide the necessary jolt for Germany to reach the million mark two years late.

Official figures show some 460,000 electric or hybrid cars in Germany last month, and about 13,500 publicly accessible charging stations.

German automakers, shaken by the diesel emissions scandal, now have 33 electric or hybrid cars on offer, a figure the industry expects to triple in the coming years.