Berlin Won’t Provide Subsidies for Electric Cars

Electric Car News | admin | May 5, 2010 at 2:48 am

Berlin will not subsidize the sale of electric cars, but it will provide funding for research in the area of electric mobility.

At the launch of the National Program for Electric Mobility in Berlin on Monday, German officials said that federal funding would instead go toward research programs to advance the technology.

The decision not to offer consumers incentives to buy electric cars, however, flies in the face of German carmakers, who had lobbied hard for such support.

In the run-up to the meeting, senior government officials including transportation minister Peter Ramsauer had already voiced their preference for supporting research instead of providing incentives. And many industry experts agree with the approach.

German government has already given €500 million to more than 150 electric car projects.