400 million euros additional
Habeck is providing more money for electric car purchase bonuses
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The Ministry of Economic Affairs is increasing the amount of the environmental bonus for the purchase of electric cars. This is possible because other departmental expenditures are lower than expected.
The Federal Ministry of Economics (BMWK) is increasing the budget for the state environmental bonus, which can be claimed when buying an electric car. “In order to ensure planning and security for consumers and the economy, the BMWK will increase the funding for 2023 by at least 400 million euros,” the ministry said upon request. “Tagesspiegel Background” had previously reported.
This year, 2.1 billion euros are available for the environmental bonus. According to BMWK information, 1.72 billion euros had already been paid out by July 3rd. The additional money comes from the current budget of the ministry under Robert Habeck. Funds for the bonus will be reallocated from programs whose spending in 2023 was lower than expected. The Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA) has recently recorded increased demand for the environmental bonus.
Overall, fewer funding applications than in previous years
“Since March 2023, the number of applications has increased from around 29,000 to over 47,000 vehicles applied for in June,” said the BAFA upon request. However, the values for the entire period are below the corresponding values for 2022 and 2021. In total, applications were submitted for around 147,000 vehicles in the first half of 2023, around 48 percent of which were from private individuals. In the same period last year, this share was 43 percent. The other applications were for commercial leasing, the funding for which expires at the end of August.
In autumn 2022, the federal government decided that from September 1st only private individuals would be entitled to apply for the environmental bonus. In addition to a cut in funding for electric cars, subsidies for plug-in hybrid vehicles also expired at the end of 2022.
