Romania doubles 2021 EV subsidy budget

The Romanian Ministry of Environment is doubling the budget for its Rabla Plus programme this year, which offers subsidies for the purchase of electric and hybrid cars, to the equivalent of around 82 million euros.

Under the programme, pure electric cars are subsidised with 10,000 euros and plug-in hybrids with 4,500 euros. According to Environment Minister Tanczos Barna, he expects to subsidise more than 10,000 vehicles through the Rabla Plus programme this year. “The Rabla Plus programme has worked very well,” Barna said. “It is a programme whose ceiling is exhausted every year.” That is why they have further increased the budget for 2021, he says.

However, Barna also states that the share of electric cars in Romania is just one per cent. “We want as many electric cars as possible on Romania’s roads to reduce pollution,” the minister said at the presentation of the programme.

Hybrid cars without plugs and gas cars, meanwhile, are subsidised under the Rabla Clasic programme, which has a budget of 90 million euros. For hybrids, the subsidy is 600 euros, previously it was around 500 euros. Here, the Ministry of the Environment expects 55,000 to 60,000 beneficiaries in 2021.

In addition, the scrapping premium in Romania will be increased by 15 per cent to the equivalent of about 1,500 euros per car. Independently of the vehicle subsidies, a subsidy programme for the purchase of energy-efficient home electronics is to start at the end of April – here, for example, laptops, refrigerators or air conditioners will be subsidised.

romania-insider.com, via economica.net (in Romanian)