Changes in subsidies : the anxious wait for the e-car
Berlin car buyers may have to wait a long time for a new car at the moment. For some who have ordered an electric vehicle, the wait could be really expensive.
By christoph dernbach, dpa
This could be close: many customers of volkswagen, who in these days the electric car ID.3 want to order, get from their dealers "calendar week 49" or even later as a delivery date in prospect.
the reason for the long delivery times is a combination of high demand and supply problems, especially with semiconductors.
However, e-cars cannot be delivered in the desired numbers, and not only at VW. audi, BMW, opel, hyundai, peugeot and škoda are also keeping customers waiting for several months for certain models, even though cars are available at short notice from some dealers. models such as the octavia iv as a plug-in hybrid from škoda are only available after well over a year. The situation is different at Tesla: While some of the model S and X series will not reach customers for around twelve months, the model Y can be delivered at short notice.
An excessively long delivery period is usually only annoying when buying a car with an internal combustion engine. If an electric car is to be purchased, however, the waiting time can be expensive under certain circumstances. This is due to a possible time limit for the lavish government subsidy that has been granted so far. For an all-electric vehicle with a net list price up to 40.000 euro, the current premium is 9000 euro. Two-thirds of this will come from the government, if the manufacturer also puts the remaining third on the table. Plug-in hybrids can cost up to 6750 euros.
No subsidies for some vehicle types in the future?
In 2019, the old black-red federal government decided to extend and significantly increase the environmental bonus until the end of 2025. Due to the corona pandemic, in the summer of 2020, the black-red coalition had also decided to temporarily double the government’s share of funding for electric vehicles in the form of an innovation premium.
The SPD, Greens and FDP in the traffic light coalition want to continue the previous government’s subsidy scheme unchanged only until the end of 2022. What comes after that is uncertain. For some types of vehicles, subsidies could be significantly reduced or eliminated altogether. In particular, the purchase of plug-in hybrids will no longer receive such extensive subsidies in the foreseeable future.
Plug-in hybrids have an electric motor and an internal combustion engine, but unlike simple hybrids, they can also be charged at a charging station. However, this class of vehicle has a bad reputation among environmentalists, because many buyers collect the electric premium but do not drive electrically at all or only rarely in everyday life without CO2 emissions.
After 2022, the traffic light coalition only wants to promote electric vehicles that have a proven climate protection effect. The benchmark for plug-in hybrids is to be a minimum electric range and the proportion of the car that is driven purely on electric power.
The statement in the coalition agreement does not mean a complete rejection of state subsidies. The end of the innovation premium for e-cars is therefore not planned until the end of 2025. What will become of the original environmental bonus has not yet been determined. But the words "degressive reform" are not rosy prospects for potential buyers, even for those who want to purchase a pure e-vehicle.
Therefore, it is important for them not only to still order this year. The car must also be delivered and registered in order to apply to the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (bafa) for subsidies. And since there are only 52 weeks in the year, a delivery date in "calendar week 49" or later could be a tight squeeze.
In view of the long delivery times, the ADAC is calling for changes to the application modalities for the innovation and environmental bonus. "anyone who decides to switch to electromobility this year should be sure to receive the government subsidy of up to 6,000 euros that has been promised for this year," said ADAC traffic president gerhard hillebrand.
Strong demand exacerbates the situation
The club is campaigning for an option to reserve the subsidy when a purchase or leasing contract is concluded. "this commitment should be valid for at least 12 months." payment should continue to be made only when the vehicle is registered." this is the only way to avoid uncertainty among people interested in e-cars and create the necessary confidence."
Strong demand exacerbates the situation. At the beginning of the corona crisis, the major car manufacturers assumed that sales would be flat and canceled large chip orders with semiconductor producers. When the automotive market picked up surprisingly quickly, the freed-up capacity had long since been allocated to other industries. Since then, the shortage of semiconductors has repeatedly brought production lines in car factories to a standstill. Experts do not expect a turnaround until 2023.
details of future subsidies are being worked out in the house of economics minister robert habeck (greens). The surprising halt of state subsidies for energy-efficient buildings has shown that the vice chancellor is also resorting to unpopular cuts.
Peter fub from the management consultancy EY believes that the coalition will not pull the subsidy plug prematurely: "I assume that the federal government will continue to support the purchase of an e-car beyond 2025."without these subsidies, it will not be financially feasible for many people to buy an electric car.
In order to achieve the goals of the announced "green deal," however, it is not only a matter of car sales, said fub. "the industry is, in principle, capable of delivering and is driving in the fast lane. Only politics is still in the slow lane when it comes to the necessary expansion of the charging infrastructure." the electric mobility can not be promoted only by subsidizing the vehicles. The expansion of the charging infrastructure must also be accelerated significantly.