“Our objective is to increase the ecological bonus to reduce the price of electric cars that the French pay”, announced the Minister of Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, in September at the microphone of TF1. We now know more about the eligibility conditions for this aid in 2024, which excludes models whose production is the most polluting.
If this formulation could give hope for an increase in the amount of the ecological bonus for eligible vehicles in 2024, it would in reality only concern the overall envelope allocated to this aid. Worse, the amount of the bonus, currently €5,000, could even be revised downwards, as reported The Parisian And The echoes. It would increase to €4,000 from January 1, 2024, according to government sources. The most modest households could, however, continue to benefit from the amount of €7,000 already in force.
The ecological bonus for used electric cars could disappear
While the envelope allocated to support electric transport was 1.3 billion euros in 2023, the bonus would have increased the bill for the State to 1.7 billion euros this year, reports The echoes. For 2024, the envelope, which will also be used for social leasing, would increase to 1.5 billion euros, which would not have made it possible to maintain the amount of the bonus at the 2023 level. Finally, the bonus of €1,000 granted to the purchase of a used electric vehicle would be abandoned, according to The echoes.
France nevertheless remains one of the most generous countries in terms of aid for the purchase of an electric vehicle. Our German neighbors, for example, have just abolished this aid altogether.
The price difference between thermal vehicles and electric models is fortunately tending to be reduced. In 2024, the Citroën ë-C3 will be launched, starting at €23,300, and the Renault 5 E-Tech electric, expected below €25,000.