• Plan 2023-2025 Manufacturers ask the Government for urgent aid for electric cars

  • 210 million deserts The failure of the 2020 Renove Plan

Last January,

almost one in two passenger cars and 4x4s registered in Spain (46.6%)

had some type of alternative propulsion.

This made them the preferred cars for buyers.

After years in which this privilege corresponded to the gasoline variants

- those of diesel continue in free fall - the turning point occurred last September and this has been repeated month after month.

The trend shows that drivers are indeed aware of buying more ecological and efficient cars, but they are still reluctant to go through the hoops of electrified ones (100% battery-powered models and plug-in hybrids or PHEVs) that the Government insists on promoting as the only ones valid for decarbonization.

The fact that in the figures for 2022 the weight of the rental companies was diluted, gives even more value to this preference among individuals.

Up to 70% of the segment

In fact, the mixed bag of alternative technologies includes many options.

To the two mentioned, we must add those

of hydrogen

fuel cell (almost non-existent), those of

CNG and LPG

(autogas) with a very limited scope and, above all,

non-plug-in hybrids

.

Of the latter,

there are those with a light electrical contribution and the self-recharging ones

, with batteries that do allow the vehicle to be moved only with electricity.

They are the largest category, with almost 70% of alternative car registrations and a third of the total.

On the other hand, 100% electric and PHEVs, the only ones with purchase aid, represented 11.2% of the total market in January.

In other words, still far from the figures for Germany (31.4%), the United Kingdom (22.8%) or Portugal (21.7%);

and the EU average, which reaches 21.5%.

More cons than pros

The detachment is understandable.

Although they have strengths such as the ZERO emissions label, compared to the ECO of other alternative cars, and the even lower cost of electricity compared to fuel, the pitfalls outweigh.

On the one hand, they have become even more expensive

-difficult for them to fall below 30,000 euros- due to the general rise in the price of cars.

This was historic, reaching 10.4% in 2022, according to the INE.

To this must be added the slow deployment of the charging infrastructure, especially the high-speed one

, key when traveling when the real autonomy is low: the average of the models for sale in Spain does not reach 300 km.

Hence, the manufacturers, forced on their part to make these cars more affordable, insist on crash measures.

On the one hand, improve the Moves aid so that it is subtracted directly from the price (you have to wait 18 months on average to collect it) and that it is not taxed in personal income tax.

On the other, speed up the placement of posts: today there are no more than 18,000, 80% slow, when there should be 45,000.

In this context, the low emission zones that must be implemented in cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants from this year are not going to be the solution either.

Because it is the majority opinion that they will favor alternative cars, yes, but those with the ECO label.

park renovation

They do not enjoy purchase aid, while the weakness of registrations and the momentum of the second-hand market feed back into an increasingly older park:

the average age of passenger cars is close to 14 years.

This is an environmental disgrace:

according to the European employers' association ACEA, the renovation of this park added to electrification would reduce the NOx emitted by transport by up to 80% in 2035 compared to 2020 levels.

A program that helps to retire the oldest cars

would not be incompatible with the EU objective of banning the sale of combustion cars, since there are still 12 years left for this and this type of subsidies will hardly subtract from the sale of an electrified model. .

Failure of the 2020 renewal

In 2020, the Government already launched an initiative of this type that ended in a resounding failure due to the complexity of the aid application process and the scarcity of these, which made it more profitable to sell the old car as used rather than send it. to the scrapyard

In the end, out of 250 million, more than 200 remained unused.

On the other hand, the similar plans (Prever or Renove) that were made previously, did succeed.

And the Administration itself

recognized that, for every euro invested, the state coffers recovered up to three.

The tax manna

Also, it would not be for lack of funds.

For example, the Registration Tax - charged by the CCAAs - collected

649.30 million in 2022, 26.5% more than in 2018 despite the fact that sales fell by 38.4% in the same period.

The reason was the application of the WLPT protocol which, as the main change, raised the threshold for exemption to 144 grams of CO2 per kilometer traveled.

And this is the parrot's chocolate.

In 2021, the car contributed 34,148 million euros in taxes.

Of that figure, almost 20,500 million arrived via fuel,

whose high prices fatten the public coffers even more, since 70% are taxes.

And the same happens with VAT, benefited by the increase in vehicle production costs.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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  • motor industry