The German government is sharply criticized after the electric car subsidy was suddenly and unexpectedly dropped in the budget. Until now, German private individuals have been able to get up to 4,500 euros in support from the state when buying an electric car.
The budget cut is seen as a severe blow to the already struggling car industry.
Lack of money
The reason why the subsidies have been removed is a budget crisis triggered by a judgment in the German Constitutional Court in November. The court ruled that unused funds that were supposed to be used to fight the corona crisis could not be set aside for climate projects.
Thus, Prime Minister Olaf Scholz and his government suddenly lacked 17 billion euros to make the budget go up. The job of tightening was not easy, but on Wednesday the governing parties reached an agreement.
One of the expenditure items that was cut is the scheme that has provided thousands of euros in support to those who buy electric cars. A spokesperson for the German Ministry of Industry admits that what he calls an unfortunate situation has arisen.
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– There is no more money available
– But there was no choice, there is no more money available, says the person.
The decision raises concern – both for the German government’s ambitions to cut emissions and for the important German car industry.
– The competitiveness of the car manufacturers will now be seriously damaged, says the analyst Ferdinand Dudenhöffer from the research center Center for Automotive Research (CAR) to the Rheinische Post.
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The newspaper Handelsblatt warns that the German plan to have 15 million electric cars on the road by 2030 will be hit.
– The goal was previously seen as extremely unrealistic. Now it seems completely illusory, it writes.
Warns: – The capacity is almost full
Also cut on September 1st
However, this is not the first downturn for electric car buyers in Germany. As recently as last year, they could receive up to 6,000 euros from the state, in addition to 3,000 euros in price reductions from the producers. This was therefore greatly reduced from the new year.
On 1 September there was another setback. That was the end of companies being able to receive support for the purchase of electric cars, which has contributed to noticeably weaker sales of electric cars in Germany over the past four months.
Also read: Important electric car support is now disappearing in Norway
2023-12-19 06:33:52
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