The FDP parliamentary group has spoken out against plans from the Ministry of Economic Affairs to cancel state subsidies for plug-in hybrid vehicles faster than previously planned.

"We have agreed with the SPD and the Greens in the coalition agreement to reform and degressively design the innovation premium for purely electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids," said FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr of the FAZ.

"There was never any talk of canceling the subsidy for plug-in hybrids." The vehicles could make an important contribution to climate protection, precisely where all-electric drives simply do not make sense.

Hybrid vehicles are therefore "an important building block for the transformation process of the auto industry." Dürr warned that the end of hybrids would put the automotive suppliers, who secure countless jobs, under massive pressure.

The Federal Ministry of Economics wants the subsidies for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which combine an electric motor and a combustion engine, to expire at the end of 2022.

The proposals from the Ministry of Robert Habeck (Greens) have apparently not yet been agreed within the coalition.

"We will discuss within the coalition what exactly the funding should look like in the future," said Dürr.

"Decision Against Consumers"

Criticism also comes from the Association of the Automotive Industry.

VDA President Hildegard Müller said: "The considerations of phasing out funding for plug-in hybrids endangers the ramp-up of e-mobility in an already tense time and ignores the everyday realities of consumers in Germany."

Müller went on to say: “In view of the charging infrastructure that is still completely underdeveloped, plug-in hybrids pave the way and form a central building block for building trust when switching to electromobility;

There is no range anxiety on long-distance journeys here.”

The car industry submitted constructive suggestions for the further development of the subsidies.

"Implementing the current considerations would be a decision against consumers, against the ramp-up of e-mobility and ultimately against Germany as a location." facilitate.

The sales figures show that the bonus for e-cars works, said Müller.

Environmental groups welcome Habeck's plans

Environmental groups, on the other hand, welcomed the plans of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

"It is long overdue to end the ecologically and economically absurd promotion of plug-in hybrids," Greenpeace traffic expert Marion Tiemann told the German Press Agency on Thursday.

Jens Hilgenberg, head of transport policy at BUND, told the dpa: "The decision to phase out purchase subsidies for plug-in hybrids financed with tax money would be good and expedient."

Evidence of the kilometers actually driven electrically seems expensive.

However, without proof, funding is no longer acceptable, says Hilgenberg.

"If the federal government seriously wants to implement the drive change, it must not take the detour via plug-in hybrids, but must rely directly on fully electric vehicles."

Tiemann said it was also right to lower the purchase premiums for electric cars.

"The climate deficit in transport is now too big to be removed with billions in taxes." In order for the switch to climate-friendly electric cars to progress at the necessary pace and oil dependence to fall quickly, Transport Minister Volker Wissing sees no way around a new registration tax for Gas guzzlers and more ambitious European CO2 limits.