ADAC criticizes the reform of the promotion of e-cars

Created: 11/23/2022, 4:56 p.m

A planned reform for e-cars causes the ADAC to shake their heads.

© Harald Tittel / dpa

The ADAC strongly criticizes the planned reform for the promotion of e-cars.

The association criticizes that the new program is not really consumer-friendly.

Berlin – The ADAC has criticized the reform of state subsidies for electric cars.

With regard to a new funding guideline, ADAC Technology President Karsten Schulze said on Wednesday that the federal government had missed the opportunity to make the funding more consumer-friendly.

Car buyers should be promised the amount of the subsidy when ordering a vehicle.

The reform of funding was already known.

Applications can only be submitted for vehicles that have already been registered, as stated in the directive.

As part of the reform, subsidies for plug-in hybrid vehicles will expire at the end of this year.

Buyers of pure electric cars will receive less support from the state from next year.

From September 1, 2023, funding will be limited to private individuals - companies will then get nothing.

ADAC: Not enough cheap e-cars on the market

Criticism also came from the car importers association VDIK.

President Reinhard Zirpel announced: “Many customers now have to hope and fear until the end of the year that the electric vehicle they have ordered can be registered in good time.

Otherwise, you are threatened with a complete or partial loss of funding.” Zirpel also criticized a planned cap on the budget funds remaining for 2023 and 2024.

"The result is funding based on the first-come-first-served principle, which means the opposite of planning security."

The ADAC criticized that German manufacturers hardly offer cheap vehicles and removed basic models from the range.

"Electric mobility will only be successful if it is accessible to everyone and does not remain a niche product for high earners," said Schulze.

“Our impression is that vehicles are currently overpriced.

Manufacturers are called upon to be much more accommodating to customers and thus to compensate for the falling subsidies to a certain extent.” The risk of no longer delivering on time before the turn of the year is high.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the future of mobility belongs to the electric car.

Combustion engines, which still characterize the present, are to be eliminated by 2035 according to EU plans.

But what does that mean in concrete terms for consumers?