Germany is doubling incentives offered to buyers of electric cars as part of a 130 billion-euros ($146 billion) economic recovery package for the period through the end of next year — but the government refused pleas for the program to include internal-combustion cars.
Germany’s announcement follows a French plan to boost electric car sales announced last week by President Macron.
The German government will double existing subsidies to €6,000 ($6,720) on electric vehicles that cost up to €40,000 ($44,800). The total incentive increases to as much as €9,000 ($10,080) when the existing €3,000 ($3,360) contribution from manufacturers is included.
Potential car buyers will also benefit from a temporary reduction in the country’s sales tax to 16% from 19%.
Germany said it will oblige all petrol stations to offer EV charging to help remove refuelling concerns and boost consumer demand for the electric vehicles.
The subsidies for electric cars are expected to cost €2.2 billion ($2.5 billion), while carmakers and their suppliers will receive another €2 billion ($2.2 billion) to aid research and development.
In Germany, electric cars made up only 1.8% of new passenger car registrations last year, with diesel and petrol cars accounting for 32% and 59.2% respectively.
Of the 168,148 new registrations in May, only 5,578 or 3.3% were electric cars according to German vehicle agency KBA.
As of March 2020, Germany had 27,730 EV charging stations according to BDEW, Germany’s association for the energy and water industry.
To achieve a mass market for electric cars, at least 70,000 charging stations and 7,000 fast charging stations are required, according to BDEW.
[source: CNN]
