Habeck stops funding for e-cars in the short term
If you still want a grant for a newly purchased electric car, you have to be quick: Grants are only available for applications received by Sunday at the latest. The Ministry of Economic Affairs is thus drawing the consequences of the billion-euro hole in the budget.
As a consequence of the Karlsruhe budget ruling, the German government is phasing out state subsidies for the purchase of e-cars from Sunday. As of December 17, no new applications for the so-called environmental bonus can be submitted, the Federal Ministry of Economics announced. However, subsidies that have already been approved will not be affected by the end of the subsidy and will be paid out.
Existing applications received up to and including December 17, 2023 will be processed in the order in which they are received and - provided the eligibility requirements are met - approved, the ministry explained.
The state subsidies for the purchase of climate-friendly e-cars were previously financed by the Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF). The Federal Constitutional Court's ruling on the budget had withdrawn 60 billion euros from the KTF, which is why it has fewer funds at its disposal.
According to the Green-led Federal Ministry of Economics, the environmental bonus program was "very successful and has decisively advanced electromobility in Germany". Since 2016, a total of around ten billion euros have been paid out under the environmental bonus for around 2.1 million electric vehicles.
According to the current funding guidelines, the environmental bonus should have expired next year. In their compromise on the 2024 federal budget a few days ago, the coalition leaders agreed to bring forward the end of the environmental bonus due to cost-cutting constraints.
Since the beginning of 2023, the environmental bonus had amounted to 4500 euros for a net list price of the basic car model of 40,000 euros and 3000 euros for a net list price above 40,000 euros to 65,000 euros. The German government wanted to use the subsidy to support its goal of bringing a total of 15 million fully electric cars onto the roads by 2030.
According to experts, the effects of the funding freeze could be considerable. Specifically, after almost a decade of steady growth, sales of purely battery-electric cars in Germany could shrink for the first time in 2024: "We calculate that there will be 90,000 to 200,000 fewer vehicles," car expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer told Handelsblatt.
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Despite Robert Habeck's decision to temporarily halt subsidies for electric cars, Environmental Protection Minister Habeck maintains that the environmental bonus program has been instrumental in promoting electromobility in Germany. Alliance 90/The Greens, his party, advocates for the long-term support of sustainable transportation solutions.
Source: www.ntv.de
