Retrofit: turning your thermal car into an electric one can be made easier with a new zero-rate loan!

Good news for those thinking about retrofit and live close to a Low Emission Zone (ZFE) in the process of being created or already existing.

Those who want to keep their current vehicle while upgrading its engine will be able, subject to eligibility and from 1^er January 2023, benefit from new aid in the form of a zero-interest loan.

A minority target audience, but retrofitting continues to make inroads in France

Do you know the retrofit? If this is not yet the case, you might be interested in the prospect of transforming your current thermal vehicle, whether diesel or gasoline, into an electric vehicle. For this, an operation, still quite expensive, is necessary. To make it more accessible, the State is taking a new step by making the retrofit eligible for the zero-rate loan, but be careful, because there is almost always a but, this is not done under any condition.

First of all, this measure was adopted via an amendment to the Finance Law 2023 of the deputy of the 11^e constituency of the Rhône, Jean-Luc Fugit (Renaissance). The latter is also, since January 4, 2018, president of the National Air Council, an advisory authority issuing recommendations to improve air quality. This objective is one of the priorities of Low Emission Zones (ZFE), territories within metropolitan areas of more than 150,000 inhabitants. Each metropolis sets its ZFE according to its needs. Some, like Grenoble and Paris, already exist, and all cities with this number of inhabitants will have to have one by 2025.

However, to multiply the possibilities of driving a “clean” vehicle in the ZFE, the amendment therefore makes it possible to now be eligible for obtaining a loan at zero rate for the retrofit, which was not the case so far, although aid already exists to reduce the cost of this transformation.

What are the conditions for obtaining this zero-rate loan?

This loan concerning circulation in the ZFE, it will therefore be necessary to reside in an agglomeration concerned to apply for it. In addition, as it stands, it should only be open to households with a reference tax income of less than 13,489 euros per unit. The ceiling specific to retrofitting has not yet been defined, although the Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire announced at the last edition of the Mondial de l’Auto that an envelope of 20 million euros would be allocated to lower the cost of the retrofit.

In fact, according toUFC-Que-Choose, the average cost of this transformation is 14,000 euros, which is still less expensive than the acquisition of an electric vehicle in the majority of cases. But if the sector estimates that only 500 vehicles could be concerned in 2023 by obtaining such a loan, it is also because the approval for the approval of retrofit kits is very supervised by the State.

Sources: UFC-Que-Choose, Finance Bill n°273 for 2023