German car manufacturers are at a disadvantage when it comes to the planned funding for e-cars from 2024. Since only vehicles up to a purchase price of 45,000 are co-financed, an enormous number of models are eliminated. CSU man Ulrich Lange warns of endangered jobs.
According to government information, the planned changes to the so-called environmental bonus for electric vehicles will have a particularly negative effect on German premium manufacturers. According to a response from the federal government to a request from the CSU member of the Bundestag Ulrich Lange, only a fraction of the battery vehicles offered by BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi will be eligible from 2024, as the “Augsburger Allgemeine” reports on the letter available to it.
If from 2024 only e-cars that are cheaper than 45,000 euros are subsidised, the number of eligible models at Mercedes-Benz will drop from the current 40 to 7, at BMW from 47 to 2 and at Audi from 13 to 5 manufacturers such as Hyundai, Kia or Seat remained in the state subsidy for all current pure electric models.
“Instead of presenting an overall transport policy strategy for climate-friendly individual transport, the traffic light with its economic policy endangers jobs in the key German industry,” criticized the CSU politician. According to the government response, the abolition of subsidies for plug-in hybrids will also hit premium manufacturers particularly hard: Mercedes-Benz will lose 68 models, BMW will have 34 and Audi will have 27 models. From September next year, only private individuals will receive help. According to Lange, this could also have a negative impact on German manufacturers. To date, 78 percent of the subsidized vehicles at Mercedes have not been used privately, around 66 percent at BMW and 71 percent at Audi.
The purchase premiums for pure e-cars will decrease from 2023 and those for hybrid cars will be completely eliminated. The incentives expire completely as soon as a total of 3.4 billion euros from the budget for 2023 and 2024 have been exhausted. For climate protection, the traffic light coalition is aiming for at least 15 million electric cars by 2030.
