The government has finally published in the Official Journal the new eligibility conditions for vehicles for the ecological bonus. The opportunity to discover the new calculation method adopted by the Ministry of Ecological Transition. Needless to say, this is quite a headache.
As you probably know, the ecological bonus will change its face in France in 2024. From May 2023, the government has made known its ambition to fundamentally modify the conditions for granting this purchasing aid, which is particularly popular with the French. In total, public authorities spent more than a billion euros on the ecological bonus last year.
A new ecological bonus to favor French manufacturers
From now on, this boost will be associated with an environmental score based on six very specific criteria. For a vehicle to be eligible, it must be obtain a score above 60 out of 80. However, it will no longer be enough to have an electric motor to qualify: it will also be necessary that the model in question displays a reasonable carbon footprint during its design or transport.
With this slightly protectionist measure, it must be admitted, the government is mainly seeking to penalize electric cars manufactured in China or the United States… And by extension to favor manufacturers based in France and the Old Continent. The logic is unstoppable: why promote the sale of its models produced in polluting factories tens of thousands of kilometers from France? When the implementation of a new bonus calculation method was announced in July 2023, we already knew that the process would prove to be particularly complex. Well, that is indeed the case.
Here is the new calculation method, beware of headaches
Indeed, the government has just published in the Official Journal the changes made to the conditions of eligibility of vehicles for the ecological bonus. The opportunity to discover the new formula concocted by the Ministry of Ecological Transition:
To summarize, here is the detail of each term:
- ferrous EC : the carbon footprint of production of ferrous metals consumed during manufacturing, excluding batteries
- EC aluminum : the carbon footprint of production of aluminum (pure and alloy) consumed for manufacturing, excluding batteries
- EC AM : the carbon footprint of production of materials, other than ferrous metals and aluminum, used during the manufacture of the model in question, excluding batteries
- EC battery : the carbon footprint linked to the production of the battery
- EC ATI : the carbon footprint linked to the energy necessary for intermediate transformations and assembly
- EC transport : the carbon footprint linked to the transport of the model in question from its assembly site to the distribution site in France
Are you still following? We then discover in the Official Journal that each of these elements is expressed in kilograms of CO2 equivalent. This addition results in the final carbon footprint of each electric model. Let us also point out that theVehicles must still not exceed 2400 kg to claim the ecological bonus.
“The environmental score is set per version of a variant of a vehicle type. It is composed, for at least 70% of its value, of the carbon footprint of the version considered, over the life cycle stages of a vehicle preceding its use on the road. Where applicable, this score may take into account, for a maximum of 30% of its value, elements relating to the incorporation of recycled and bio-sourced materials in the vehicle, as well as the repairability of the battery. adds the Ministry of Ecological Transition. And what about electric vehicles produced on different sites? In this case, weighting is provided to establish a unique environmental score specific to the electric model concerned.
Each manufacturer must produce a file for each model
But where the situation becomes really complex is that each manufacturer must provide a complete file to the Environment Agency and energy management to obtain this score for each of its electric models.
Within one month of receipt of the file, the Agency will carry out a complete verification of the documents and supporting documents provided by the manufacturers. Once this is done, the institution will forward its conclusions to the ministers responsible for the economy, energy, ecology and transport. The latter will then have to decide “on achieving the environmental score minimal” of the model concerned.
As said above, the scale is out of 80 and you will need to obtain at least a score of 60 to be eligible for the ecological bonus. Note that for the two years following the award of the rating, the Environment Agency may require additional supporting documents from manufacturers to ensure proper compliance with the criteria mentioned above. From what we know, the first files will be submitted in October. In other words, we should finally know the list of the first vehicles eligible or not towards the end of 2023.
Source: Official Journal