Lobbying for Tesla factory/German govt weighs new tax break for e-cars

To incentivise the uptake of electric vehicles, the German federal government is considering offering tax breaks to employees who use an electric company car for private purposes, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reports. According to the draft amendment to the law, the government would allow workers who opt for e-cars and plug-in hybrids to pay less each month in their so-called “non-cash benefit”. In the first half of 2018, just 17,000 electric cars were newly registered, constituting a market share of 0.9 percent, the article says. The government hopes that further incentivising e-car use will help it meet its previously-stated target of having one million electric cars on the roads by 2020. “The tax advantage for company cars with electric drive is another incentive for clean mobility and more e-vehicles on the road,” transport minister Andreas Scheuer said.

Read the article in German here.

For background, read the dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers and the article Germany’s car-loving transport minister faces clean mobility challenge.

The importation of more liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States would make the EU less dependent on Russia for energy, but American LNG is associated with significant environmental damage due to its extraction method, economist Claudia Kemfert said in an interview with the tageszeitung (taz). In late July, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and U.S. President Donald Trump expressed joint interest in the United States supplying more LNG to Europe. Instead of getting embroiled in “energy wars” involving other major powers, Germany should continue with its transition to a low-carbon economy, thereby reducing its dependence on foreign sources of energy, according to Kemfert. “This will make us stronger in import negotiations and politically and economically more independent,” she said.

Read the interview in German here.

For background, read the news digest item Trump lashes out at Nord Stream 2, says Germany is “totally controlled” by Russia, the dossier The role of gas in Germany’s energy transition, and the factsheet Germany’s dependence on imported fossil fuels.

Although a new study has found that natural gas could replace coal as an electricity source without endangering the power supply, there are much cheaper ways to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, Kathrin Witsch writes in a commentary in the Handelsblatt. Since natural gas is more expensive than lignite, a more cost-effective way to reduce carbon pollution would, for example, be to shift freight traffic from trucks to trains and ships, according to Witsch. Regardless of the environmental and economic benefits of shifting from coal to gas, the latter will be the most important source of energy in Germany after 2030, Witsch writes.

Read the commentary in German here.

For background, read the dossiers on Cargo Transport and The role of gas in Germany’s energy transition and the factsheets Germany’s dependence on imported fossil fuels and Coal in Germany.