Until now, when it came to tightening the ecological bonus for the purchase of an electric vehicle, the government had mainly focused on where it was produced, in particular to prevent this aid from benefiting sales of models manufactured at low costs in Asia. From now on, it would also be a question of taking into account buyers' incomes. For the wealthiest French people, this aid could increase from 5000,4000 euros to 1,50 euros from 6 January, according to a report in the daily Les Echos. This would apply to the 10% of households with the highest incomes (deciles <> to <>).
Low-income households below this threshold would continue to be able to claim an additional bonus of 7000 euros, maintained at this level although it had been envisaged to increase it. As for the €1000 subsidy for the purchase of a second-hand electric car, it would simply be abolished. While the introduction of new environmental criteria was intended to exclude certain low-cost Asian models from the bonus, this new cut would rather be intended to limit the budgetary excesses of this aid. The Ministry of the Budget has already recently had to concede an additional €400 million for 2023 to cope with the increase in sales of electric cars.
The amount of the bonus will be officially published, as it does every year, by a decree to be published by 31 December at the latest. According to government sources, the aid envelope for electric transport will continue to increase in 2024, from €1.3 billion to €1.5 billion. But at a time when electric vehicles already account for 20% of car sales (compared to 17% in November 2022), the authorities argue that the market start-up period seems to have been reached, which would justify a start to reduce the amount of aid. In Germany, these subsidies were abruptly stopped last week.