Protect the climate and get money for it – that’s what the start-up ePuls promises. Owners of e-cars and charging points can sell their CO2 certificates here.
Electric car owners can get money every year if they sell their CO2 certificates. (Source: Netzwelt)
- The company ePuls from Austria transfers money to you every year if you have an e-car, e-motorcycle or a charging station.
- The background is trading in CO2 certificates.
- There is currently a maximum of 82 euros per year in Austria. However, the rates are expected to increase in the near future.
- In Germany, the payouts are higher and can be over 400 euros.
Do you drive an e-car, a motorcycle with an electric drive or do you have a charging station in the garage? An Austrian start-up called ePuls wants to transfer you money every year! As Futurezone reports, up to 82 euros flow into your coffers every year.
The start-up has specialized in trading in CO2 certificates. Since electric cars, unlike cars with combustion engines, consume a lot of green electricity, they receive CO2 certificates. According to the provider, however, various bureaucratic hurdles have to be overcome in order to get access to this as a private individual. ePuls wants to simplify this.
Certificates assigned to ePuls are then sold to “dirty” companies whose carbon footprint is negative and which can thus avoid fines. The ePuls registration process is currently only open to customers in Austria. In Germany there are already various providers on the market, some of whom pay significantly more money for your certificates (see below).
Interested parties can register via a website and upload data about their vehicle or the charging station. This often requires data from the vehicle registration document. After the check, the money should be transferred within 14 days. A maximum of 82 euros flows annually for e-cars. Owners of a charging station can expect a fee of between three and five cents per kilowatt hour. ePuls makes a margin to cover its own costs.
Private trading in CO2 certificates is already established in Germany. Here the fines are at a higher level, so that customers also receive more money for their certificates. Providers such as wirkaufendeincertificate, Greenair and others promise annual payments of 425 euros and more.
Greenwashing allegations
Environmental protection organizations criticize the so-called greenhouse gas reduction quota (GHG quota). The accusation: Companies want to buy a clean slate with the help of certificate trading. In this way, there are no incentives to redesign production and operations in a sustainable manner.
Companies like ePuls counter the accusation of greenwashing. They are convinced that bonuses of this kind provide private individuals with an additional incentive to switch to electric cars. Ultimately, the expansion of the infrastructure would also benefit from this.
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