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There Might Never Be a Better Time to Buy Electric Vehicles for Europeans

Some markets seem more intent to overhaul their respective car parks than others in view of the whole electrification current (I'm afraid the pun is intended), and there's no better way to gauge this by having a look at the EV incentives plan.
Volkswagen ID.3 1 photo
Photo: Volkswagen
At the bottom end of the scale, you have the completely free markets that regulate themselves. If a product is desirable and competitive, people will buy it without any government intervention. This is where EVs haven't done great because there is still a not so favorable price gap for equivalent cars when compared to their gas-powered counterparts. Besides, it's not just the vehicles themselves that need a boost - it's the required infrastructure as well.

In between, you have most of the other European countries where new electric vehicles (and sometimes other vehicles with a certain degree of electrification - read hybrids and plug-in hybrids) receive a government subsidy that can vary from just a few thousand to ten thousand euros. This method has its merits, but it's not scalable.

Up top, there are countries such as Norway - well, frankly, it's just Norway - where EVs hold up more than half of the new car market share. How did the Scandinavians do it? Among other more measly measures - such as free parking and exemption from certain road taxes - it was the eradication of the VAT that really made the difference.

Now, according to Bloomberg (via Electrek), the EU commission is said to consider applying a similar measure across all member countries as part of its attempt to make the recovery plan more environmentally sustainable. Christophe Barraud, an important Bloomberg contributor, tweeted some of the measures being talked about, and it says something about how the EU is addressing the situation.

"Massive support for the automotive industry will put significant debt on future generations," it commission's document reads. "That support must respect our youth's expectations on climate change and for a healthier and cleaner future." I don't know about the future, but that's definitely some healthy thinking. If you're going to put the future generations in debt, you might as well do it for something that isn't also slowly killing them.

The plan is to ready an investment fund of 20 billion euros for the next two years to be used strictly for incentivizing the acquisition of "clean vehicles" together with 40 to 60 billion euros for accelerating the development of zero-emissions drive trains.

These measures would undoubtedly have a huge impact (especially if you consider the VAT can go as high as 27%, as is Hungary's case), but as more and more battery-powered vehicles hit the roads, the importance of clean energy becomes paramount. The European Commission will have to carefully deal with both issues if its plans are to have an outcome that is truly beneficial to everyone. However, the signs are definitely promising.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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