The rumors were buzzing for a while, but the bullet is now officially through the church: people who want to buy an electric car can get a subsidy of € 4,000 for this from this summer. The Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management reports this. For second-hand cars, a purchase subsidy of € 2,000 applies.
Before a private individual receives the subsidy, a number of conditions must be checked. For example, the catalog value of the electric car must be between € 12,500 and € 45,000 and the minimum range of the car must be 120 kilometers. The car must also remain with the same owner in the Netherlands for a few years. If people terminate their lease within four years, the subsidy will also stop, which will be paid in monthly installments. Owners who buy another car within three years will pay back part of the subsidy.
“There are more and more different electric cars for sale and luckily they are becoming cheaper and cheaper to use. But many people are ticking at the purchase price. With this scheme I want to lower that threshold, both for people who want a new car and when they go for a clean second-hand “, says minister Stientje van Veldhoven.
Walk back
The subsidy amount will decrease in the coming years, because the price of electric cars is getting lower. Up to and including 2021, the purchase subsidy for new cars will be € 4,000 and then be gradually reduced to € 2,500 in 2025. The subsidy for used electric cars will remain € 2,000. The ministry does, however, emphasize that step-by-step reduction is still being examined during the internet consultation.
The measure was previously announced in the government’s Climate Agreement and should have been effective from 2020, but because the measure still had to be discussed with environmental clubs and the car industry, it was postponed for a while. The official plans leaked through early February.
RAI
According to the chairman of the RAI Association, Steven van Eijck, it is difficult to predict how the private market will respond to the subsidy. However, according to him, it is important to get private individuals into an EV: “For achieving the climate objectives, it is therefore essential that, just like the business driver, the private driver is tempted to drive emission-free.”