Motorists can adjust to an extension of the state premium for the purchase of electric cars. As the German press agency learned from government circles, it is „seriously considered“ to extend the premium beyond the summer.
In the pot for the so-called environmental bonus are a total of 600 million euros in federal funds. So far, but only 134 million euros have been paid, it said. Around 100,000 applications have been received so far.
The premium should expire according to previous plans actually end of June. But now more and more e-cars are coming onto the market, and the charging station infrastructure is improving, according to government officials. The German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) has long been demanding that the state premium be extended beyond June.
For pure battery cars, there are 4000 euros for the program, for hybrid cars 3000 euros subsidy – paid half each by the federal government and the automaker. The list price of the basic model may not be more expensive than 60,000 euros. The action was launched in mid-2016 and is the responsibility of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
The expectations have not been fulfilled so far. The hoped-for breakthrough for e-cars has so far remained, demand is still at a low level despite growth. The federal government had originally issued the goal that by 2020, driving a million e-cars on German roads – but it has long since adopted. Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) said last September that the goal would not be reached until 2022.
According to the latest figures available from the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA), the stock of electric cars was around 54,000 vehicles in 2017, the hybrid cars around 237,000 cars – with a total stock of 56.5 million vehicles.
Although in 2018, the number of new registrations of electric cars rose significantly, but at a still low level. According to KBA figures, new registrations of hybrid vehicles increased by more than half to around 130,000, with pure electric cars up by almost 44 percent to 36,000 – with a total of 3.44 million new cars.
For applications to the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control, two-thirds have so far been provided for pure battery vehicles, the remainder for hybrid vehicles. The majority of applications come from companies.
New on the list is recently the Model 3 of the US manufacturer Tesla. The model is to bring Tesla from the upper-class niche in a wider market.
Once before, the state had helped the auto industry with purchase premiums. At the height of the financial crisis, starting in 2009, there were 2500 euros from the federal government when buying new cars – with the so-called „scrapping premium“, politicians wanted to protect jobs at car manufacturers. It was well received by the customers.
