Should you happen to call Germany home and are shopping for a car, the government would like to offer you free parking, tax exemptions for 10 years, and bus-lane privileges if you purchase an EV, FCV or PHEV.
Bloomberg reports the bill, known in English as the Electric Mobility Act, would bestow those incentives through the municipalities on drivers who go green in a move meant to bolster demand for such vehicles. The German government has a goal of 1 million EVs by 2020, both to further prove the nation’s engineering might, and to meet tightening greenhouse gas emission regs.
Getting there will likely become easier over the next few months. According to industry group VDA, 17 electric models from BMW, Smart and Mercedes will enter showrooms by the end of 2014, with 12 more coming out of the factories in 2015.
The Electric Mobility Act will come into force by the spring of 2015.
Looking forward to a well-rounded, objective and sober discussion in the comments…
Just got back from Berlin and was surprised to see numerous Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric cars — rebadged as Citroens! European driving distances are short, so electric city cars are a sensible option. European cities are still choking on filthy diesel soot, so it was nice to see hybrids are continuing to replace diesels in taxi fleets too, but to really clean up the air they need to incentivize installation of catalyzed diesel particulate filters on trucks and buses.
Do the bus lane privileges also last ten years? If so, and assuming (probably counterfactually) that they meet their 1 million ZEV goal by 2020, those bus lanes are going to be nigh-on useless, for ZEV cars as well as buses.
“…free parking, tax exemptions for 10 years, and bus-lane privileges if you purchase an EV, FCV or PHEV…”
Why not free sex services too?
The incentives are sweet, sweet, considering how much German drivers have to pay for those privileges.
But the real key for German acceptance will be whether those will be full-throttle autobahn-worthy vehicles.
Or will they be relegated to city driving only?