Demand for Germany’s e-car subsidy remains low
Demand for subsidised electric vehicles in Germany remains far below the level hoped for. By the end of March 2018, authorities had received a total of 57,549 applications for an e-car buyer’s premium, the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (Bafa) says in a press release. The government aimed to boost demand for e-cars to meet its goal of putting 1 million of them on the road by 2020. At the beginning of 2018, there were 53,861 e-cars and 44,419 plug-in hybrids registered in Germany, the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA).
Stefan Kapferer, head of the German Association of 鶹 and Water Industries (BDEW), says it is carmakers’ responsibility to offer customers “attractive and affordable” vehicles, and “ambitious” CO2 limit values for vehicles would be far more effective at spurring a transition towards low-emission vehicles. He argues that the energy sector has already provided the charging infrastructure to get e-mobility off the ground but cannot operate it at a profit because there are so few e-cars in use. “We need to avoid this sort of chicken-or-egg dilemma,” Kapferer said.
Find the Bafa press release in German and the BDEW press release in German .
For background, see 鶹’s dossier on the energy transition and Germany’s transport sector here.