Plug-in hybrids: Habeck wants to cut state subsidies and sets a deadline

Created: 04/14/2022 13:13

Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck wants to abolish the state start-up aid for the purchase of plug-in hybrids.

© Fabian Sommer/dpa

Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck wants to phase out state subsidies for plug-in hybrids and is thus causing criticism.

Berlin - Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck justifies plans to no longer want to pay state subsidies for cars with electric and combustion engines in the future with climate protection.

“We want to sharpen the focus in the future promotion of e-cars and focus more on climate protection.

In our opinion, plug-in hybrids are marketable and no longer need public funding, ”said the Green politician of the Funke media group (Thursday).

As it became known on Wednesday evening, the Ministry of Economics wants the subsidies for plug-in hybrids to expire at the end of this year, unlike in the coalition agreement*.

In addition, the subsidy for purely electric cars is to be gradually reduced, as Habeck confirmed.

It was "still at a high level and therefore interesting for consumers, also because the industry is adding another 50 percent," added the minister.

The “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” had previously reported on the project.

Ministry of Economics: Subsidies for e-cars should also decrease

In the case of funding for purely electrically operated vehicles, the federal share should still be 4,000 euros in 2023, and 3,000 euros in 2024 and 2025.

This emerges from a letter from Parliamentary State Secretary Michael Kellner (Greens) to members of the traffic light coalition, which was available to the German Press Agency.

The proposals from the Ministry of Economic Affairs have not yet been agreed within the coalition and are now to go into departmental coordination within the federal government.

The registration of the vehicle is decisive for the approval of the subsidy.

In view of the currently long delivery times, demands from the industry to link the subsidy to the time of purchase were rejected by Habeck.

"We discussed that, but we have to stick to the fact that vehicle registration must remain the relevant point in time," he told the Funke newspapers.

"The susceptibility to abuse is too high when the time of the conclusion of the contract counts and not the registration." He would "find it helpful if the car manufacturers themselves compensated for the difference that can arise from the longer delivery times".

Environmental groups welcome the end of subsidies

Environmental groups welcome the step.* It is "overdue to end the ecologically and economically absurd promotion of plug-in hybrids," said Greenpeace traffic expert Marion Tiemann on Thursday of the German Press Agency.

According to Tiemann, it is right to lower the purchase premiums for e-cars: "The climate deficit in traffic is now too big to be subsidized with billions in taxes."

FDP speaks out against Habeck's plans

The Greens' coalition partner, the FDP, is less enthusiastic.

The transport policy spokesman for the parliamentary group, Bernd Reuther, said on Thursday the German Press Agency in Berlin: "In the coalition agreement, the traffic light parties have agreed to continue the innovation bonus for plug-in hybrid vehicles." There is "no reason move away from this agreement now.” According to Reuther, every vehicle that can be operated electrically makes a contribution to achieving the climate goals.

The coalition agreement states that the funding for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids should be fundamentally reformed so that from January 1, 2023 it will only be issued for vehicles that have a proven positive climate protection effect - which only has an electric drive component and a minimum electrical range is defined.