Whether scrappage bonus, a new e-car bonus or less strict CO₂ requirements – before the car summit planned for Monday by Economics Minister Robert Habeck (55; Greens), there is no lack of demands to support the ailing Germans Auto industry. The meeting with car manufacturers, the supplier industry and industry representatives will also focus on measures to address the sluggish situation Electric car-can boost sales. Habeck had recently announced further funding measures.
The SPD is relying on immediate measures, including a new scrappage bonus 2.0. Anyone who scraps their combustion engine and buys a new electric car should receive a bonus of 6,000 euros, according to the paper from the SPD economic politicians available to the German Press Agency. There should then be 3,000 euros for the purchase of a used electric car. The magazine “Stern” previously reported on it. Further suggestions include a state surcharge for e-car leasing for people with low or medium incomes and funding for private charging boxes, storage systems and charging stations.
In the economic crisis of 2009 Germany has already supported the exchange of cars with a bonus. Back then, anyone who had their old car scrapped and bought a new one received an environmental bonus of 2,500 euros.
Union: Relax pollution regulations
“The scrapping bonus at the time had no effect on car demand other than a brief flash in the pan,” said CDU/CSU parliamentary group vice-president Ulrich Lange (55), criticizing the SPD’s plans. “But there was chaos in the processing and misuse.” Given the commitment to electric cars, Lange spoke out in favor of openness to technology. There should also be financial relief and easing of the European pollutant limits for cars.
The chairman of the European People’s Party, Manfred Weber (52), is also aiming in this direction. He wants to suspend the threat of fines from car manufacturers as a result of the planned stricter fleet requirements for CO₂ emissions. “If tens of thousands of jobs are shaky, then there is no time to pay fines,” he told the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. The EU wants to gradually tighten the so-called fleet targets for the emission of climate-damaging carbon dioxide (CO₂).
The union IG Metall considers a new funding package Electromobility for necessary. “The funding package must help to accelerate the ramp-up of e-mobility,” said a union spokesman for the Funke media group. The federal government’s announced special depreciation for commercially purchased emission-free vehicles is a sensible first step. Almost a year ago, the federal government surprisingly canceled the e-car subsidy for all consumers.
FDP warns of subsidy summit
“The car summit must not become a subsidy summit, but must take the basic conditions of the German industry into account,” warned FDP parliamentary group deputy Lukas Köhler (38). “An attempt to use taxpayer money to cover up the problems of individual companies would be doomed to failure, because a sustainably successful business model cannot be built on subsidies.”
The President of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Marcel Fratzscher (53), also believes subsidies for individual companies or for energy are a wrong move. “These only help individual companies and not the entire economy.” The main responsibility for the difficult situation in the automotive industry lies with the companies themselves, not with politicians, he told the Funke media group.
Niedersachsenmetall criticizes the e-car premium
The employers’ association Niedersachsenmetall criticizes a possible new edition of the e-car bonus as unhelpful. “It would be decidedly too short-sighted to try to cure the misery of the auto industry with constant new subsidies such as a new edition of the purchase bonus for electric cars or even a scrappage bonus for functioning combustion engines,” warned Niedersachsenmetall boss Volker Schmidt.
The crisis among suppliers and car manufacturers is the direct result of unprecedented political intervention in the development of drive technologies, said Schmidt. The long-standing political requirement for electrically powered cars is now outdated given the “development of further alternative drive technologies to decarbonize transport”.
The German Economic Institute (IW), on the other hand, considers a new e-car bonus to be sensible. “But it will only have a noticeable benefit if we succeed in expanding the potential buyer group,” said IW expert Thomas Puls. The utility of electric cars must be increased for people who do not have their own charging facility.
Greenpeace advocates a different funding policy. “Instead of an unfair and ecologically harmful subsidy for company cars, the economics minister should set up a bonus for small, economical electric cars of up to a maximum of 30,000 euros,” demanded the environmental protection organization. This should be counter-financed with a new registration tax for heavy combustion engines. Socially and ecologically oriented associations called for a “socially graded purchase premium”. From the perspective of the ecological transport club VCD, the “extensive tax privileges for combustion engines” should be reduced and restructured. In addition, the debate about e-fuels and the weakening of CO₂ regulations must end.