The cabinet has decided to temporarily pull the plug from the counter for applying for a private purchase subsidy for a new electric car in the short term. This means that the previously announced roll-over scheme will come to an end. RAI Vereniging and Bovag are not charmed by the decision.
At the beginning of March, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management announced that it would come up with a purchase subsidy for private individuals who want to purchase a new electric car. This involved an amount of € 4,000, while a purchase subsidy of € 2,000 was created for the purchase of second-hand EVs. At the beginning of July it was announced that the sub-depot, which was filled with € 10 million, was already completely empty. Applications that are not accepted would be postponed to 2021. According to the cabinet, this transfer arrangement will come to an end ‘as soon as possible’, much to the dismay of RAI Vereniging and Bovag.
The so-called subsidy counter would reopen on January 1. All grant requests that have already been submitted for payment in January next year would still be processed. Bovag chairman Han ten Broeke says in a statement that he does not understand the decision, partly because a large number of important electric models will be on the market next year. “We know that the EV fund for 2021 will already be empty by the end of this year. So there is no EV subsidy available for 2021 “, according to Ten Broeke.” And that while 2021 should be the year of the breakthrough of EV for private individuals. This yo-yo policy is disastrous for consumer confidence and for confidence in the government in general. ”
RAI Association and Bovag
Steven van Eijck, chairman of the RAI Association, also says he rejects the decision. Partly because the policy would lead to market disruption. “This subsidy bingo leads to serious market disruption and also demotivates the purchase of an electric car because agreements made are again not met.” According to the organizations, pre-contracts will soon be drawn up throughout the year, which will be submitted in one go from 1 January of the following year. “Moreover, this may make fewer electric cars available for the Dutch market, especially at a time when the supply of ‘affordable’ electric models is increasing. Motorists and entrepreneurs are once again the victims of an unpredictable car policy. This runs counter to the ambitions of becoming the greenest cabinet. ever to become. ”
RAI Vereniging and Bovag are calling on the House of Representatives to adjust policy. For example, the interest groups believe that the available financial space can be better utilized. This way budgets could be used differently. The organizations fear that subsidy money that is not used this year for, for example, the second-hand EV market and that of new delivery vans, will flow back to the general resources. RAI Vereniging and Bovag are also of the opinion that more EVs could qualify for a subsidy scheme this year by spreading the € 4,000 subsidy for, for example, a private lease car over the term of the contract, instead of transferring the entire amount to the subsidy pool. in which the request was made.