Gasoline consumption in Germany rose for the third year in a row in 2023. This emerges from the official mineral oil data from the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA). Accordingly, domestic deliveries of gasoline last year were 17.3 million tons. That was 416,000 tons more than the previous year. Compared to the corona-related low point in 2020, it is an increase of almost 1.1 million tons.
In the years before Corona, gasoline consumption tended to decline – in 2010 it was 19.6 million tons. In addition, the number of electric cars on German roads has increased significantly in recent years – at the end of the year there were 1.4 million cars. Meanwhile, diesel deliveries have continued to fall. However, the consumption figures here are largely due to truck traffic and are therefore much more dependent on the economy than the figures for petrol.
Reason probably increased mileage
The Federal Environment Agency attributes the development in gasoline consumption primarily to increased mileage last year. For light traffic – i.e. excluding trucks, buses and the like – this was above the values for 2022, although still significantly below 2019, as figures from the Federal Highway Research Institute show.
The Munich Ifo Institute sees several possible factors for the development: Here too, increased traffic volume is cited. In addition, a switch from diesel to gasoline could become noticeable as a result of driving bans and the reduced financial advantage of diesel vehicles. According to economic researchers, there are now more heavy cars with gasoline engines.
Gasoline engines dominate new registrations
The ADAC explains the development, among other things, with the increasing number of registered cars with gasoline engines. A large proportion of hybrid vehicles must also be included in these categories. When it comes to new registrations, including hybrids, cars with gasoline engines and new cars in particular generally have higher mileage, which ultimately leads to higher fuel consumption overall.
Parallel to the increased gasoline sales, another trend also continued: in 2023, the Super E10, which was a few cents cheaper, accounted for more than a quarter of gasoline sales for the first time at 25.9 percent. In 2022 it was 23.7 percent, five years ago it was 13.7 percent. E10 can contain up to 10 percent biofuel.
The figures for domestic deliveries recorded in the BAFA statistics do not directly reflect the sale of petrol at the petrol station, but mainly the deliveries there. However, when viewed over longer periods of time such as a year, this allows good conclusions to be drawn about consumption. The specific gravity of diesel and gasoline varies depending on their exact composition and temperature. One tonne of unleaded petrol roughly corresponds to 1300 to 1400 liters, one tonne of diesel corresponds to around 1200 liters.
