The German government is offering incentives of four thousand euros to those who purchase electric cars. By 2020, half a million low-environmental-impact vehicles will be on the road.
If it were a poker game, we might say that Germany has pushed all its chips to the centre of the table. The German government has confirmed a colossal incentive scheme to promote sustainable mobility. Anyone purchasing a new electric car will be able to benefit from May onwards from a four-thousand-euro discount, while those opting for a plug-in hybrid model — that is, one equipped with a traditional combustion engine paired with a motor powered by rechargeable batteries that can be charged via a standard domestic socket — will receive a bonus of three thousand euros.
The objectives are clear: to bring the number of electric vehicles on German roads to half a million by 2020, up from the approximately 50,000 currently on the road. A development plan valued at over one billion euros in incentives, involving both public authorities and car manufacturers, since the bonus will be split equally between the two — provided, of course, that the chosen models carry a price tag not exceeding sixty thousand euros. This is a choice aimed on the one hand at "democratising" the renewal of the vehicle fleet, and on the other, according to persistent rumours, at favouring domestic brands while slowing the growth of the American company Tesla. The California-based manufacturer is present in Germany only with the Model S electric saloon, priced from 82,700 euros, and the Model X — also electric — crossover, with a base price of 96,100 euros. This will remain the case at least until 2018, when the more accessible Model 3, which falls within the incentive threshold, becomes available.
The plan, as declared by Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, is not limited to promoting electric vehicles, but takes serious account of the development of the rapid-charging network. "Of the one billion euros allocated," the German politician stated, "at least three hundred million, distributed over the three-year period 2017–2020, will be earmarked for expanding charging infrastructure." Chancellor Angela Merkel intervened personally on this wide-ranging project, telling the press that "the German government is only taking its first steps towards electrifying the vehicle fleet. The future horizon — that is, after 2019," ed. "when the first round of incentives comes to an end — is far broader and envisages significant tax relief for owners of low-environmental-impact vehicles." An ambitious road map that aims, if not to replicate, then at least to approach, the idyllic Norwegian model. In the Scandinavian country, electric cars are not only exempt from VAT, road tax and traffic restrictions, but can even be recharged (almost) free of charge.
Thanks to public investment, it is expected that by 2019 Germany will be able to count on 15,000 rapid-charging stations along its road and motorway network, while the public administration will have access to over 100,000 electric vehicles in its fleet. A radical change of pace that, as everyone hopes, could have a domino effect across the rest of Europe — Italy first and foremost — which is called upon to close the technological and environmental gap with the "German locomotive".