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Production of an electric car at VW in Zwickau
Photo: Jan Woitas / dpa
After the energy sector and industry, traffic is the third largest cause of greenhouse gas emissions in Germany with around 20 percent CO₂ emissions.
Because more and more goods and people are traveling longer and longer distances on the roads, the transport sector has made little progress in climate protection for more than 25 years.
If the traffic light coalition is serious about its climate goals, that must change quickly.
However, there is a dispute about how to get there.
He is currently sparked by a proposal by Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) to massively increase funding for new electric cars.
The "Handelsblatt" had first reported on the plans.
As part of the immediate climate protection program, Wissing plans to extend and significantly increase the planned purchase premium for purely battery-electric vehicles or fuel cell cars until 2027 (read here why the effect of such premiums is controversial among experts).
According to the report, anyone who buys a car with a maximum purchase price of 40,000 euros will in future receive almost twice as much instead of 6,000 euros: 10,800 euros and thus more than 25 percent of the purchase price.
In addition, there is the manufacturer's discount of 3000 euros, which they should also continue to grant until 2027.
For more expensive vehicles up to 60,000 euros, the minister is planning a premium of 8,400 euros instead of the 5,000 euros promised today.
As a condition for full funding, buyers should scrap a car with a combustion engine that is at least eleven years old from the second half of 2023.
This would re-introduce a scrapping premium, as it boosted sales of new cars during the 2009 economic crisis.
Their value could be around 1500 euros.
Both premiums are expected to decrease from 2025.
According to a report by several research institutes quoted by the Handelsblatt newspaper, the proposed subsidy for electric cars costs “up to 73 billion euros”.
Even before the plans are officially presented, the social-democratic partner in government has been criticizing the ideas of the FDP minister.
Detlef Müller, vice-chairman of the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, told SPIEGEL: "This is not covered by the coalition agreement, nor have there been talks about deviating from the agreements made so far."
About the train »one hears far too little from Wissing«
According to the coalition agreement, all purchase subsidies should actually expire in 2025, and from January 1, 2023 there should only be a premium for cars “that have a proven positive climate protection effect that is only defined by an electric drive share and a minimum electric range”.
Wissing, on the other hand, according to the “Handelsblatt”, wants to extend the funding for plug-in hybrids by another year.
SPD transport politician Müller called Wissing's proposals "half-baked" and warned of "renewed uncertainty among consumers and industry".
Instead, the SPD politician called for more investment in rail: "The railway is the backbone of the mobility turnaround for climate protection, but we have heard far too little from Volker Wissing." for their largest construction projects.
In several internal memos, ministry officials complain that there will be a "dramatically growing investment backlog" in the rail infrastructure in the coming years.
The rail requirements plan is "dramatically" underfunded.
"I'm surprised that we've been discussing underfinanced public transport and missing billions for rail expansion for weeks, which Wissing didn't even bother to raise during the budget negotiations, and the minister then came up with such an expensive and unnecessary proposal for the car Corner is coming," criticizes Müller.
“The minister is trying his hand at FDP client politics and is working sideways.
If Volker Wissing continues like this, we will lose years to strengthen the railways and achieve nothing in terms of transport policy for climate protection.«
So far, neither the Ministry of Transport nor the Ministry of Economics, which is responsible for the immediate climate protection program, nor the experts involved have wanted to comment officially on the plans.
The ministries are currently still coordinating their drafts with one another – with a number of critical comments.
The program should be finalized by July.
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