Environmental Bonus officially extended in Germany

The purchase premiums for electric cars and plug-in hybrids have now been officially extended until the end of 2020. And there is news.

The extension of so-called Umweltbonus (environmental grant) will apply from 1 July after the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy announced as much in May. What is new is a conveyor module for the installation of an acoustic warning system for blind and visually impaired people (Acoustic Vehicle Alerting Systems – AVAS). These will be subsidised with 100 euros.

The plug-in grant applies to EVs and plug-in hybrids and can be handed in via BAFA. Battery-electric cars and fuel cell vehicles are eligible for 2,000 euros each by the state and the manufacturer. Plug-in hybrids each receive a subsidy of 1,500 euros, again from both sides. This results in total support of 4,000 and 3,000 euros, respectively. However, only if it is a new vehicle with a netlist price of no more than 60,000 euros.

Apart from the price cap, calls such as made by Volkswagen to give preference to buyers of smaller, cheaper, fully electric vehicles, i.e. by stricter price caps as well as limits on range and size of cars remain unheard. Whether they will be incorporated in post-2020 legislation, perhaps under a new government, remains open at this stage.

For the effectiveness of the measure: By 31 May 2019, the BAFA authority had received a total of 120,071 applications for the purchase premium. 79,200 were for pure battery electric vehicles, 40,802 for plug-in hybrids and 69 for fuel cell vehicles. Still, those numbers mean that the 600 million euro federal subsidy fund, which is boosted by another 600 million euros by manufacturers, remains well filled.

A word on AVAS – the acoustic measure had been called for by the United Nations ECE and the EU and is adopted by the German government. However, if looking at it in detail, the obligation to sound is unfair, our research suggests because new combustion engines are almost as quiet on the road.

bafa.de (in German)