German govt extends e-car bonus programme to 2022, says rules tightened thereafter

German economy and climate minister Robert Habeck has announced the government will extend the current e-car buyer’s premium programme to the end of 2022, as promised in the coalition treaty. From 2023, however, only electric vehicles with a proven positive effect for the climate should be supported and the government is currently working out the details, the economy and climate ministry (BMWK) said in a press release. “In future, we will be more ambitious in our funding in order to give electromobility a further boost and strengthen climate action. To this end, we will realign the funding.” The positive effect on the climate is to be defined by assessing the share a vehicle is used in electric driving mode, and through a minimum electric driving range.

Since 2020, buyers of electric vehicles costing less than 40,000 euros (net list price) can apply for a premium of up to 9,000 euros; for plug-in hybrid cars it is 6,750 euros. Throughout the past three decades of Germany's energy transition, emissions from the transport sector have largely stagnated and little has happened to green the vehicle fleet. E-car purchases only picked up recently, meaning the government target of having one million electric and plug-in hybrid cars on the roads by 2020 was achieved six months later in mid-2021. The last government had promised to extend the premium programme to 2025, but the decision was never put into regulation.