I ought to have googled! Of course they have an electronic ID card project, they have just been testing it from 2006-2010 and slowly issuing it since 2010 with 'turn on' in 2017 with a goal of 2020.

The Gemalto overview is fantastic: https://www.gemalto.com/govt/inspired/eid-in-germany

https://www.bsi.bund.de/EN/Topics/ElectrIDDocuments/German-e...

Edit: trying to submit the Gemalto Dec 2019 update as a new story but I seem to be banned from submitting stories. Merry xmas HN.