Peru‘s government on Thursday said a bill in Congress to boost the domestic electric vehicle (EV) industry was too expensive and unnecessary.
The bill, currently up for debate in Peru’s right-wing opposition-dominated Congress, would provide incentives for investments in the South American country’s nascent EV market.
In a statement, Peru’s economy ministry said tax exemptions in the legislation would have a cost of approximately 20 billion soles (USD5.5 billion) between 2023 and 2032.
The proposal “is excessively expensive considering that global producers already plan to migrate their production to electric vehicles in a period of 5 to 10 years,” the ministry said.
Tax exemptions in the legislation cover various types of four-wheel EVs, “including luxury cars and golf carts,” the statement added.
“The proposal is regressive and ineffective because it mainly benefits a segment of the population that does not need state assistance and will not contribute to reducing the impact of environmental pollution or vehicular congestion.”
In 2018, Peru took a first step to promote electric transportation by reducing the import tax on electric vehicles to zero.
(USD1 = 3.6371 soles)
