WIESBADEN (dpa-AFX) - Germany exported more electric cars last year than it imported. 786,000 vehicles were exported compared to 446,000 imported from other countries, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office on Monday. At 36 billion euros, exports were also well ahead of imports, which amounted to 14.1 billion euros.

The most important importer was China with a share of 29 percent, ahead of Korea with just under 10 percent. Exports of purely electrically powered cars grew by 58% over the course of the year, significantly faster than imports with an increase of 23.5%. Nevertheless, only around one in four new cars exported from Germany had an electric drive, while the rest still had combustion engines on board. In German production, 973,000 e-cars (+59.9 percent) stood in contrast to around 2.4 million combustion engines (+7.9 percent)./ceb/DP/stk