Traffic Light Check: Electric Car, Rail, and Bicycle - Long To-Do List Before the Election

Since last summer, the traffic light coalition has only made slow progress in implementing its coalition agreement. Expressed in school grades, the associations give the federal government a 4+ ("sufficient") instead of a straight 4 like last year. Looking ahead to the federal election in September 2025, the alliance is calling for an ambitious final spurt in transport policy from the traffic light coalition.

While the recently adopted amendment to the Federal Rail Expansion Act and also the Road Traffic Act contain noticeable progress, the implementation of Vision Zero in road traffic and the ramp-up of electromobility look rather bleak. Overall, much remains to be done to implement the transport policy objectives from the coalition agreement.

Electric Cars

The coalition also fares poorly in the assessment by the three associations when it comes to the expansion of infrastructure for electric cars: still rated a 4.

"With the Master Plan for Charging Infrastructure, the federal government has indeed created a good foundation to ease the charging of electric cars across the country," says ACE Chairman Stefan Heimlich. "While only 19 of the 68 measures were fully implemented a year ago, we are now at 33 implemented measures. This is certainly progress."

But while the number of charging stations is developing satisfactorily (improved to a rating of 3), the federal government is still at the very beginning of decarbonizing transportation (rating 5). Stefan Heimlich sees the ramp-up of electric mobility at risk:

"We are still miles away from the promise in the coalition agreement to make Germany a lead market for electric mobility. Only about 10 percent of the target to bring 15 million fully electric cars onto the roads in Germany by 2030 has been achieved. To even remotely reach this target, the federal government must urgently take action now: This includes, among other things, clarity on the expansion of charging infrastructure and a reform of company car taxation."

Rail / Public Transport

The implementation of the measures for rail transport in Germany promised in the coalition agreement is rated overall with a grade of C by the three associations. Positive aspects include the Germany ticket, the massively increased rail investments, and the changed revenue distribution of the truck toll, which benefits the transport transition. The expansion of the track network and the electrification of the railways are in poor shape – progress in both cases is minimal (both rated with an E).

"On the positive side, the federal government has, as promised, set up a rail acceleration commission that presented concrete recommendations for faster progress on the railways at the end of 2022. So far, however, only a small part of the overall package has been implemented," criticizes Dirk Flege, Managing Director of Allianz pro Schiene. "We are still waiting for the long-announced Modern Rail Act, which is supposed to implement key proposals from the commission. This could also accelerate the sluggish electrification, among other things." A similar situation exists with the key project of the traffic light coalition to align railway infrastructure with the common good in the future. Flege: "The promise of a new common good-oriented infrastructure division of Deutsche Bahn has so far only been fulfilled organizationally with the establishment of DB InfraGO AG. However, the accompanying federal strategy with specific targets for the new infrastructure company is still missing. The traffic light coalition needs to provide clarity and binding commitments in the remaining time, otherwise this important reform will remain incomplete."

Cycling Traffic

On the topic of cycling traffic, the traffic light coalition again receives a grade of D from the associations, as it did last year.

"Regarding cycling traffic, the federal government is largely at a standstill," says Caroline Lodemann, Federal Managing Director of the cycling club ADFC. While it has been possible to pass a revision of the traffic law, which was previously too focused on car traffic, and to facilitate the construction of bike paths, a clear commitment to Vision Zero as promised in the coalition agreement is lacking overall. "The number of cyclists killed in road traffic increased by 17 percent between 2010 and 2023; a similar trend is seen among pedestrians. We are calling for a speed limit of 30 km/h as the default in municipalities. So far, we still have a patchwork."

Cycling traffic in Germany must finally become more attractive and safer. "For this, we need a binding concept on how the National Cycling Plan will be implemented and financed by 2030," demands Lodemann.