Frankfurt 2009: German goverment plugs in for EVs
Before the Frankfurt Motor Show brought us the latest models and concepts from automakers, it was opened by German Chancelor Angela Merkel. The inauguration speech by the Chancellor included describing her country's support for electric vehicles: Germany expects that there will be up to seven million EVs, including plug-ins, and about 18 million hybrid cars in 2020. These figures would account for a third of the expected cars on German roads at that time. Merkel's speech divided the expansion of EVs into three phases. The first one, from 2012 to 2014 would aim to get EV sales up to 30,000 cars per year, and would include €5,000 subvention or tax breaks from the German Federal Government, similar to 17 other European countries. During the second phase, from 2015 to 2018, the market would be mature enough to have about 100,000 sales per year, which would be incentived with about €2,000 and special measures such as parking rights and exclusive lanes. All of this leads to the third phase, in 2019 and 2020, where Merkel said she hopes for 250,000 sales per year. [Source: Auto News]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Andy 3:38AM (9/19/2009)
I just read another article with GM and Toyota exec's whining about battery costs.
What a pathetic bunch of deceitful money grabbing $%#@'ers. How can you not make money and succeed when governments all over the world are falling over themselves to help you.
I've worked 18 years a privately funded tech industry sector. We fight tooth and nail to stay competitive, reducing costs until our fingers bleed. We make high risk capital investments year in year out. Losers in the race regularly crash and burn.
Why in the $%#@ing world to we have to give more money to these born losers so they can look like they are succeeding. If we want to get off oil and the auto industry doesn't want to help. Just tax the black stuff into oblivion and invest the money in lean EV and battery start-ups.
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DasBoese 9:57PM (9/19/2009)
IMO this has more to do with appealing to the quite large group of green voters, as we have elections a week from today.
Her party is the conservative CDU and they're likely to win, I'd compare them to the Republicans, but in all honesty the GOP would be considered far-right over here while the CDU is center-right. Their most likely coalition partner FDP, a liberal and libertarian party as well as their sister party/bavarian wing CSU, exclusive to Bavaria, are pretty Republican-like though, unsurprising since Bavaria is pretty much the Texas of Germany ;)
Still, there may be some honesty in that statement, as a PhD she can hardly dismiss the fact that EVs have become unstoppable.
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William 11:18AM (9/20/2009)
According to ACEA in Europe, Germany is the only large country there not to have set up CO2-based taxation.
"In the past 18 months, France, Spain, Finland, Ireland, Romania and Malta introduced CO2-related car taxation."
http://www.acea.be/index.php/collection/taxation_background/
http://www.acea.be/images/uploads/files/20080302_CO%202%20tax%20overview.pdf
Germany was going to introduce CO2-based taxation in July, but have they?
I doubt they will even by 2010 or 2011.
If Germany are not too keen on CO2 taxation there (or in terms of EU legislation either), then surely these announcements are just hogwash? Isn't a strong drive toward more efficient, fuel-supping vehicles the natural intermediate step toward EVs?
So much so that while in Germany, Merkel is trumpeting again and the German manufacturers are showing off their millionth concept prototype, France has been pushing EVs vey differently, without the trumpeting, but with Project Better Place and Renault vehicles already out next year. The Bollore-Pininfarina B0 will also be out next year.
I think we're talking about completely deifferent time frames in the case of Germany.
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DasBoese 5:29PM (9/20/2009)
It's been signed into law and implemented, so I guess their information is simply outdated.
William 9:38PM (9/20/2009)
I haven't been able to find any info on this of late. I know that promises have been made since 2007, but never kept.
Could you provide a link with details of the implementation? Thanks.
William 9:54PM (9/20/2009)
All I've found so far is this, which is very recent (from last Thursday):
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/business/news/article_1501736.php/Merkel-opens-IAA-car-show-warns-of-Asian-market-dominance-Roundup
...
'In a free world, it can't be that we prescribe the size of a car,' Merkel said of European Union environmental standards which could lead to penalties for cars with high fuel consumption.
'If the producers of large cars did not exist, the innovation in the small ones could not be implemented so quickly,' the chancellor added.'
...
The measures introduced by individual EU states are based on CO2 emissions, not car weight. In a similar fashion the Kyoto protocol makes no reference whatsoever to car weight: there is simply a requirement and agreement to cut emissions in absolute terms. If Germany is pushing for the EU to adopt something which nobody in the EU does as a country, it seems unlikely that Germany is going to introduce anything like the French bonus-malus system, at least not before 2020.
hans_solo 9:48AM (9/21/2009)
William
It is law since 01. of July 2009.
http://www.bundesregierung.de/nn_774/Content/DE/Artikel/2009/01/2009-01-13-konjunkturpaket-neuregelung-kfz-steuer.html
Translation:
http://translate.google.de/translate?prev=hp&hl=de&js=y&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bundesregierung.de%2Fnn_774%2FContent%2FDE%2FArtikel%2F2009%2F01%2F2009-01-13-konjunkturpaket-neuregelung-kfz-steuer.html&sl=de&tl=en&history_state0=
I'm no fan of Merkel, but a concrete EV vision plus G2C/G2B subsidies to come off oil and air pollution is very welcome.
Yes, looks like the French are kind of leading the European EV market. At least in the beginning. But wait, the only real EV available right now is the US - Tesla roadster.
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DasBoese 3:44PM (9/21/2009)
Thanks for saving me the work :)
William 7:32PM (9/21/2009)
If it has taken Germany this long to joing the rest of the EU on CO2, I don't think there is anything "concrete" about this vision. To this one should also add the "logic" behind her statements above about producers of large gas-guzzlers.
William 11:04AM (9/22/2009)
This law does not contain ANY bonuses whatsoever for cars with low CO2 emissions. When contemplating this consider that in the EU, Germany currently ranks 20th in average CO2 emissions by country (out of 25 in total!!!)
As a result of this new law, therefore, Germany continues to remain completely isolated from the rest of Europe in terms of taxation on CO2 emissions:
BONUS FOR LOW CO2 EMISSION VEHICLES- max amount in euros (corresponding CO2 threshold on g/km)
Germany: NONE
Austria: 300 euros (120)
Belgium: 4540 euros (115)
Cyprus: 683 euros (120)
France: 5000 euros (60)
Italy: 1500 euros (130 or 140)
Luxembourg: 2500euros (120)
The Netherlands: 1400 euros
Portugal: 1000 euros (140)
Spain: 10,000 euro interst-free loan (140)
Sweden: 10,000 SEK (120)
http://www.acea.be/images/uploads/files/20090428_CO2_taxation_overview.pdf
AVERAGE CO2 EMISSION RANKING BY COUNTRY (2008)
1 Portugal 138
2 France 140
3 Italy 145
4 Denmark 146
5 Malta 147
6 Belgium 148
7 Spain 148
8 Poland 153
9 Hungary 153
10 Czech Rep 154
11 Slovenia 156
12 Romania 156
13 Ireland 157
14 Netherlds 158
15 Austria 158
16 UK 158
17 Luxemb. 160
18 Greece 161
19 Finland 163
20 Germany 165
21 Cyprus 166
22 Lithuania 170
23 Sweden 174
24 Estonia 177
25 Latvia 181
Total / avg 153.5
http://www.transportenvironment.org/Publications/prep_hand_out/lid:549