BETTER PARTSFrance comes up with a trick to only subsidize sustainable electric cars
Evil tongues claim the idea is to thwart Chinese EVs
If electric cars are not built with green energy, they are not emission-free cars. You may have heard this reason for not being in favor of EVs. The French government has also heard that comment and wants to do something about it. There is a proposal in France to adjust the subsidy scheme for electric cars.
French and French people can now receive a subsidy of between 5,000 and 7,000 euros when purchasing an electric car. How much government money you receive depends on the price of the car and its emissions. Under the current rules, emissions for electric cars are zero.
But that can change. If the proposal passes, France wants to measure emissions based on the environmental score from December this year. In the environmental score, matters such as production and transport are included in the emissions of an electric car. The type of battery also influences the environmental score. According to Reuters, a third of French EV buyers use the subsidy to order an electric car from China; Changing the scheme could have consequences for those cars.
Does France no longer want subsidies for electric cars from China?
The French government will look at which models meet the criteria. There is a good chance that electric cars from Chinese brands – and cars built in China, such as the Dacia Spring – will fall outside the subsidy scheme. According to various media, the French government would like to have fewer Chinese cars in the country and would therefore like to adjust the regulation.
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The factories in China mainly run on coal, which causes high CO2 emissions. In addition, more CO2 is naturally released during transport when a car has to come from China to France than when the car was born in France. If this is indeed a diabolical plan to keep Chinese cars out, then it could work.
Take the BYD Dolphin as an example. That electric car from China costs at least 33,900 euros in France. The electric Renault Megane costs at least 33,000 euros in its home country. With a 5,000 euro subsidy on that amount, you would rather go for the Megane, er, wouldn't you? Another example from the C-segment: the MG 4 costs at least 29,990 euros in France. Even then, the Megane is cheaper with a subsidy.