The subsidy fund for new electric cars from 2021 is already empty. Within one day, more subsidies have been applied for for the purchase of a new electric car than is available for the entire year.
The registration opened on Monday and on Tuesday morning, the entire available € 1.1 million in subsidy had already been requested, reports the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland) (RVO). Not a big surprise, since that only offered room for subsidy for 275 cars.
For 2021, € 14.4 million was initially reserved for the subsidy scheme, € 4.4 million more than in the previous year. After the amount available for 2020 had been used up after eight days, the subsidy for this year was already brought forward via the so-called roll-over scheme. State Secretary Stientje van Veldhoven of Infrastructure and Water Management put an end to this last October, because the amount fell again very quickly.
The subsidy scheme is intended for private individuals who want to buy or lease an electric car and will run up to and including 2025. The subsidy amount is subject to a maximum per year, which has already been reached this year. By drawing lots it is determined who will be awarded the subsidy. That will happen within three months. Those who are excluded will then appear on a reserve list if applications are withdrawn.
Used electric cars
Incidentally, an even higher amount, € 13 million, is available this year for the purchase of used electric cars. There are not yet any figures about this subscription, but it is expected that things will go a lot slower here. In 2020, the budget for electric used cars was only exhausted towards the end of the year.