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More money, longer term: The Federal Government wants to boost the sales of electric cars by extending the three years ago introduced purchase premium and increased by a billion. This is a result of the "car summit", which took place on Monday in the Chancellery and met in the Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU) top representatives of the auto industry.
Sounds sustainable, but is a prime example of how misguided the discussion on the mobility of the future is in this country. Yes, of course: there are parts of Germany where there is no rich alternative mobility offer available. There, the measure can set a good impetus for a reduction in CO2 emissions. But in all urban traffic areas promotion is a mistake.
Two assumptions should underlie investments in metropolitan regions:
- We do not get further in terms of how we move effectively in the city, if we focus on drive types.
- Any subsidy of private transport designed to move empty space through the city is wrong.
The purchase premium once again captures the concept car. That's no surprise in a motorized society, but thought surprisingly short. To err is indeed human, but the automobile man is a single mistake. After all, at least in urban areas, the basic idea of mobility in the collective congestion experience is reduced to absurdity. While looking at a still image through the windshield, you have time to think about the following:
We have a space problem. 68 percent of commuters in Germany take the car to get to work, according to the latest micro census of the Federal Statistical Office, which is published every four years. This number must decrease. For this we have to invest in bicycle infrastructure. As more people cycle, the air in the city gets better. Although e-cars bring less particulate matter with them than vehicles with internal combustion engine - after all, the federal government wants to promote the purchase premium about 650,000 to 700,000 vehicles - but so no place won. Especially not when the e-car as a second or third car replenishes the fleet.
Nevertheless, the sentimental mobilist ignores this fact and thus becomes a victim of his anachronistic way of thinking. The bicycle lobby reacts with corresponding outrage to the plans of the Federal Government. Especially because the bonus rewards those who replace car with car.
Hamburg leads by example
In addition, cyclists feel constrained by comparatively modest increases in the budget for bicycle infrastructure, which are also sold as a big coup: Scheuer announced in October to spend by 2030 an additional 900 million euros for the promotion of cycling. Calculated over the years, that's a pretty small amount. Especially if you look at the fact that the federal government wants to invest in the next few years alone 3.5 billion euros in the construction of a charging infrastructure for e-cars.
At the same time, the Allgemeine Deutsche Fahrradclub (ADFC) and the Verbund Service und Fahrrad eV criticize the fact that the 20 million euros that were first provided for "Investive Measures" in 2019 will no longer appear in the federal budget for 2020.
A good example of how a premium in the wheel area can work can be found in Hamburg. Private individuals, clubs or companies can apply for a subsidy of up to 2,000 euros (33 percent of the purchase price) for the purchase of a cargo bike. According to Environment Senator Jens Kerstan (Greens), the program aims to increase the number of freight bikes and fewer cars on the roads. After a short time, almost 400 applications were received and the planned volume was exhausted, so that subsidized sums for the following years are now being brought forward.
By comparison, the nationwide commitment is meager. Maybe you have to stay with this picture. Promoting electric cars to solve traffic problems is like eating diet products to lose weight: Helps only superficially. Then you would rather change the diet over the long term or just move more. Incidentally, this is also what you do when cycling, to move. In contrast to sitting around in the electric car.
