Zirpel: Federal government should reconsider decision on environmental bonus
“2024 will be a year of uncertainty for electric mobility in Germany. With the abolition of the e-car subsidy, the framework conditions for electric cars will unfortunately deteriorate in the coming year. This creates the risk that electric cars will become financially less attractive than comparable combustion vehicles. The entire passenger car market will also suffer from the uncertainty surrounding electromobility in 2024,” said Reinhard Zirpel, President of the Association of International Manufacturers (VDIK), in an outlook for the coming automotive year.
In mid-December, the German government announced the end of the environmental bonus within less than two days after the coalition partners reached an agreement on the 2024 budget. Zirpel commented: “The government is promoting electric cars for a good reason, namely to achieve the jointly agreed climate targets. Nevertheless, the environmental bonus was never intended to last forever, but was supposed to expire after 2025, as the governing parties had agreed in the coalition agreement. Now, however, the subsidy is ending at extremely short notice and without any prospect of what will happen from January. The German government’s target of 15 million e-cars by 2030 is therefore a very long way off.”
According to Zirpel, the German government should therefore reconsider its decision on the environmental bonus and allow the funding to continue at least until it has created clarity for consumers regarding the political framework conditions for electric mobility: “To this end, it should present a long-term overall concept for the financial incentives for emission-free vehicles as quickly as possible. We believe that these framework conditions for electric vehicles should be fundamentally rebalanced so that they are sustainable until 2030 and beyond.”
