Thursday, December 23, 2021
Almost 600,000 applications in 2021
Purchase bonuses give e-cars a boom
Transport plays an important role in the energy transition. State funding for electric cars and plug-in hybrids will be increased in 2020 and this year there has been more demand than ever. Hundreds of thousands apply for it. Perhaps this is also due to the intended change in funding from 2023.
There has been a boom in government subsidies for electric cars this year. The number of applications more than doubled to a record of more than 585,000, as announced by the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control. More than three billion euros in funding for electromobility were paid out. This is 4.7 times the amount paid out last year.
In the middle of last year, the purchase premium (environmental bonus) for pure e-cars and plug-in hybrids was increased through an innovation bonus. The federal government doubled its funding for the purchase of such vehicles. This led to a strong increase in demand. The innovation bonus, which was previously limited to the end of the year, will be extended until the end of 2022, as Economics and Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck recently announced. Buyers of purely electrically powered electric vehicles will continue to receive funding of up to 9,000 euros. Plug-in hybrids can cost up to 6750 euros.
According to the Federal Office, around one million applications have been submitted since funding began in 2016 – the majority of the vehicles had been applied for in the past two years. From 2023 onwards, according to the plans of the Ampel coalition, there will be a reform of state funding. Then only electric vehicles that have been shown to have a positive effect on climate protection should be funded. This should be defined via the electric driving portion and a minimum electric range. Plug-in hybrid vehicles that combine an electric drive with a combustion engine are criticized by environmental and climate associations. It is controversial how much they are really driven in purely electric mode.
From January 2022 onwards, plug-in hybrid vehicles with maximum CO2 emissions per kilometer driven in excess of 50 grams and with a purely electric range of less than 60 kilometers will no longer be eligible for funding, according to the Federal Office. So far, the limit value has been an electric range of 40 kilometers.