The German government and the manufacturing companies reached an agreement at the beginning of 2020 in which an extension of subsidies for the purchase of electric vehicles in that country is established. As a result of the measure, German dealers are running out of electric vehicles amid an exponential increase in their sales.
According to data provided by Autonews of the German DGT (KBA), sales of 100% electric cars tripled in 2020, reaching 194,163 units. In January 2021 the curve continued its ascent with sales representing double those accumulated in the same month of 2020.
An example of the increase in sales in the German country is the case of the Opel brand Mokka-e since at the end of 2020 the electric SUV was already sold out and the lightning firm had sold all the production of 2021 before start with deliveries.
This has also managed to boost sales of models such as the Volkswagen ID.3, the Renault ZOE or the Tesla Model 3.
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Agreement details
The German Government began to increase aid for the purchase of electric cars at the end of 2019 and the Executive together with the automobile industry agreed to increase the subsidies and extend the aid program until 2025 (or until the budget was exhausted).
The program has a budget of 2,090 million euros, and the industry and the federal government will divide equally the cost of these subsidies.
The last fringes of the agreement between the government and the automotive industry indicate that the aid will be 4,000 to 6,000 euros for the purchase of electric vehicles that cost less than 40,000 euros.
In case of exceeding 65,000 euros, as is the case of a Tesla Model S or the Porsche Taycan, they will not receive public aid. The aid also includes hydrogen vehicles, the price of the latter excludes them in practice from receiving such subsidies.
The subsidies also include aid for the purchase of used electric cars, however, used electric cars must be less than 12 months old from their first registration and less than 15,000 kilometers traveled. Furthermore, they cannot have received an equivalent state subsidy in another country of the European Union. If these conditions are met, they will be able to benefit from a grant of 5,000 euros.
Targeting the charging infrastructure
In addition to the expansion of subsidies, the German government and manufacturers discussed ways to expand the infrastructure for electric cars. Thus, the Executive of Angela Merkel promised to invest 3,500 million euros to increase the number of charging stations for electric cars.
The goal is for there to be 50,000 publicly accessible charging stations across the country by 2022, more than double the 21,000 that currently exist. However, the figure is still a far cry from the 1 million electric car charging points that Merkel has said she wants in Germany by 2030.
For more information: hibridosyelectricos.com
Written by | Gabriel Sayago
