As of today, companies will no longer receive an environmental bonus for e-cars. Industry and trade are annoyed, they fear negative effects for the electric car market – especially with a view to used cars.
The state subsidy for the purchase of an electric car – the environmental bonus – is only available to private individuals from today. Companies can no longer apply for the environmental bonus. From September 1, 2023, only private individuals who purchase an electric vehicle for private purposes only are entitled to submit an application, according to the responsible Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA).
Negative consequences for used car market
This annoys industry and trade, and the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) even sees the further market ramp-up of electromobility at risk. “The abolition of the environmental bonus for commercial cars will have a negative effect on their registrations and thus on the electric car market as a whole,” said VDA President Hildegard Müller of the dpa news agency.
According to Müller, it is company cars and other commercially used cars that could make a major contribution to the switch to electromobility and then come onto the used car market at lower prices. “They make a crucial contribution to an overall more climate-friendly car fleet and to the achievement of climate targets.”
In addition, the new regulation is a burden for medium-sized businesses and logistics companies. “It is now crucial to strengthen people’s trust in electric mobility in other ways: the public charging infrastructure must be expanded even more consistently and the power grids must be made fit for the future.”
Craft looks ramping up electromobility endangered
The Central Association of German Crafts and Trades was also critical of the new regulation. The environmental bonus has so far successfully flanked the modernization of the company’s own vehicle fleet and the switch to alternative drives and made the sometimes very expensive investments possible, explained General Secretary Holger Schwannecke. “The fact that this tried-and-tested instrument is now being phased out without replacement is incomprehensible given the need for support and the climate policy objectives.”
According to the ZDH General Secretary, the price differences between conventional and alternative drives are still very high, especially for commercially used cars and commercial vehicles. “The fact that the environmental bonus is now to be phased out in the commercial sector threatens to slow down the ramp-up of electric mobility in trade and medium-sized companies.”
Before the new regulation comes into force today and commercial customers can no longer apply for the environmental bonus, companies had to bring forward the benefits significantly: According to BAFA information, the number of applications in July increased by around two-thirds compared to the previous month.