The German ministries of economics, transport and environment reportedly agreed on a new incentive program for electric vehicles that will include a €5,000 discount at the purchase starting July 1st.
Such a program has been in the work since last year after Germany joined the International Zero-Emission Vehicle Alliance (ZEV Alliance), but the three responsible ministries couldn’t agree on the cost of financing an incentive program until now, according to German newspaper Der Spielgel:
“In a joint paper, Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel (SPD), Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) and Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks (SPD) calculate a financial need for the premium of a total of 1.3 billion euros.”
The newspaper adds that the €5,000 incentive would apply to EVs for personal use, while commercial vehicles would receive a €3,000 incentive.
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The amount is set to decrease by €500 every year and be completely phased out by the end of the decade.
Under the new initiative, the government also plans to finance 15,000 new charging stations across the country and to subsidize battery research.
Although it sounds like the deal is done, the program will only be made official during a summit in April before it can start in July.
Featured image: German automaker Daimler’s electric vehicle models
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I really hope this all turns out to be true and Germany will finally decide to implement a cash incentive to get people into buying electric cars. It’s about time!
I’m really proud of my country when it comes to being a leader in renewable energy, but I must admit that it really is an American company that’s now teaching us and the rest of the world how to progress into a world of sustainable transportation. Since I’ve first heard of Tesla, I fell in love with this company and I’m thrilled with what they are coming up with in the future! Elon Musk is a true visionary!
I do understand that large corporations such as VW, BMW, Mercedes etc. are not able to turn around 180 degrees in a short period of time. They have invested billions in a machinery to create ICE cars. They can’t just swap out the motor and put an EV engine in it and proceed as if nothing had happened.
But still, it really is a shame how little our car industry is invested in the future of mobility. If I had to decide anything, I would still proceed producing ICE cars for the moment, but would spend every penny I had in research and development of new cars that are designed from the ground up to being electric vehicles, because this is the future!
It’s so embarrassing to always have to read of a new announcement of one of our car companies… they are only showing concepts (like the VW Budd-e; awful name by the way!) and theoretical products instead of putting their energy and money into an actual car that one can buy today!
I will stop my posting here, but I could rant about our backwards thinking car industry for much longer…
Thanks for putting up this article, I’m really glad that I could contribute something here 🙂 I visit electrek multiple times a day, it’s a joy to read through the many articles about electric cars and renewable energy. We are at the beginning of something big here and I love being a part of it! ^_^