The desire to swap combustion cars that pollute the environment with non-polluting electric vehicles or EVs is ever-growing. Several governments are offering incentives to customers to aid and accelerate the shift.
Here are the countries that are offering the highest incentives to EV adopters:
Norway
Norway is at the forefront of the transition to zero emission transportation. Today, Norway has the greatest number of EVs on the road. Some of the major incentives offered by the Norwegian government include, no purchase/import taxes, exemption from 25 percent VAT on purchase, no annual road tax, no charges on toll roads or ferries, free municipal parking and fiscal compensation for the scrapping of fossil vans when converting to a zero-emission van.
European Union
In early 2021, nine EU countries urged the European Commission to accelerate an EU-wide phase-out of petrol and diesel cars. Also, EU policies and directives in many countries of Europe are continuing EV subsidy and incentive measures.
Currently, 17 EU member states offer incentives for the purchase of EVs. The highest bonus is provided by Romania, up to €10,000 for purchase of a new electric car, while Finland offers the lowest with only €2,000.
France
France currently offers two main EV incentives. The first is the Ecological Bonus and the other is the Conversion Bonus. By combining these two incentive programmes, customers can receive up to €19,000 while purchasing an EV depending on the region.
Germany
Germany has put in place strong measures to encourage consumers to go fully electric or adopt hybrid vehicles. The German government offers €6,000 for the purchase of vehicles costing less than €40,000. Automakers provide an additional bonus of up to €3,000.
United Kingdom
The UK slightly lags behind the European Union in terms of incentives provided. For EV buyers, there is a purchase grant of 35 percent of the cost of an electric car (max £3,000), 20 percent of the cost of an electric bike (max £1,500).
Customers do not need to do anything to receive this grant. The dealers will adjust the vehicle’s price according to the grant benefit.
Further, owners of EVs costing less than £40,000 are exempt from the Vehicle Excise Duty (annual road tax).
United States of America
In the US, EV owners are exempted from all fuel consumption-related federal taxes. Electric car buyers are also eligible for a federal tax credit of up to $7,000.
The scheme has an upper limit and as soon as a manufacturer's total sales of EVs reach 200,000 units, the subsidies for the models offered by the particular manufacturer will expire.
India
The Centre has ambitious plans to accelerate the adoption of EVs across the country. Recently, the Department of Heavy Industries changed the 2019 Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric (FAME-II) vehicles scheme. The scheme extends to offer 50 percent higher incentives on two-wheeler EVs.
Other incentives include:
For two-wheelers: Rs 15,000 per kWh of battery capacity, up to 40 per cent of the vehicle cost
For four-wheelers: Rs 10,000 per kWh of battery capacity, up to Rs 1.5 lakh
States like Delhi are leading the EV revolution in India. The state offers a subsidy of Rs 5,000 per kWh of battery capacity for two-wheeler EVs and exemption from registration and road tax
For cars, there is a subsidy of Rs 10,000 per kWh of battery capacity, up to Rs 1.5 lakh, and exemption from registration and road tax
Delhi has also announced separate schemes to grow the EV charging infrastructure in the state.
Other states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Meghalaya, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh offer similar subsidies for EV owners.
China
In China, EVs are not subjected to registration and driving restrictions. In 2020, China introduced purchase incentives for pure electric cars with a range of over 400 km. Electric ranges between 250 km and below 400 km also received major incentives.
However, according to Reuters, these subsidies were cut by 20 percent in 2021 and will be further cut by 30 percent in 2022.
Japan
Japan stood out as the only country where EV sales dropped in 2020. Since then, Japan doubled its subsidies for passenger EVs registered from the end of 2020. Other measures such as tax exemptions on different categories of EVs have been extended for two years.
However, the Japanese government recently announced that it will double the purchase incentives in 2022. The purchase incentives for EVs may rise up to 800,000 yen ($7,000), which will match the incentives offered by the US and EU, Nikkei Asia reported.
(Edited by : Thomas Abraham)
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