Subsidy schemes for low-emission vehicles to adopt in Jan

The government has taken an initiative to adopt new subsidy schemes for low-emission vehicles on 1 January 2022 and the schemes will be applicable in 2022-2025.

The draft proposal for an act concerning purchase and conversion subsidies for low-emission vehicles has been sent out for comments, said the Ministry of Transport and Communications in a press release on Tuesday.

The Ministry requested comments by 10 October 2021. The act is to enter into force on 1 January 2022 and remain in force until 31 December 2026.

According to the proposal, the subsidies for battery electric vehicles and gas-powered trucks and the conversion subsidy will continue as from 2022.

The new forms of support would be a purchase subsidy for electric and gas-powered vans and a purchase subsidy for electric trucks.

The subsidies would speed up the transition into low-emission, electric and gas-powered vehicles, which would reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport.

The new subsidies, together with the purchase and conversion subsidies we already have, are part of the Roadmap for Fossil-free Transport adopted by the Government in May 2021. The Roadmap for Fossil-free Transport aims to halve emissions from transport by 2030 compared to the level in 2005.

Subsidies for purchasing electric and gas-powered vehicles.

The draft proposal contains four types of subsidies- for electric and gas-powered vans, for electric trucks and continuation and raising of the present purchase subsidy for gas-powered trucks, continuation of the present purchase subsidy for battery electric vehicles and continuation of the present conversion subsidies for converting petrol-powered vehicles to run on gas or ethanol.

EUR 2,000, EUR 4,000 or EUR 6,000 in support could be granted for purchasing an electric van, depending on the size of the vehicle. The subsidy for a gas-powered van would be EUR 2,000. Both private persons and companies would be eligible.

EUR 8,000–50,000 in support could be granted for purchasing an electric truck, depending on the size of the vehicle, EUR 7,500 for purchasing a truck using pressurised gas and EUR 15,000 for a truck using liquefied gas. Both private persons and companies would be eligible.

EUR 2,000 in support could be granted for purchasing a battery electric vehicle whose total costs do not exceed EUR 50,000. Private persons would be eligible.

EUR 200 in support could be granted when converting a vehicle to run on ethanol and EUR 1,000 to run on gas.

In the Budget for 2022, the Government proposes EUR 6 million in funding for the purchase and conversion subsidies.