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Charging station: The subsidy is also intended for private households

Photo: Alex Kraus / Bloomberg / Getty Images

Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing has promised new subsidies to make electric cars more attractive in Germany. "Soon we will be launching two more funding offers to support private households in the construction of charging stations with self-supply and companies in the construction of fast-charging infrastructure," the FDP politician told the ARD capital studio. According to ARD, the funding programs have a total volume of 900 million euros.

How the money will be distributed:

  • With 500 million euros, charging stations, photovoltaic systems and storage systems are to be promoted in private residential buildings – but only as a package, as ARD reported on Thursday, citing a letter from the Ministry of Transport. This program is scheduled to be launched in the fall.

  • According to the report, 400 million euros are planned to support the development of fast-charging infrastructure and a grid connection for the operation of commercial cars. Here, the launch is already planned for the summer, according to ARD. The charging infrastructure conference of the Federal Ministry of Transport will take place on Thursday.

The Ministry of Transport expects a high five-digit number of applications from private households, reports ARD. The programme is to be financed by the Climate and Transformation Fund, a special fund worth around 35 billion euros. According to the report, the applications will be processed by the state development bank KfW. The ministry plans to announce at a later date how high the individual funding will be.

Under Wissing's predecessor Andreas Scheuer (CSU), the federal government had already promoted the installation of charging stations in private households. The program was extended, but expired in 2021.

ADAC survey: People want climate protection, but don't want to do without it

Only on Wednesday, a recent survey by the ADAC showed that Germans largely reject restrictive measures such as more expensive fuels in transport policy. The expansion of local transport or the refuelling and charging infrastructure for alternative fuels and electric cars met with particularly high approval. Stricter exhaust and CO₂ values were also advocated.

"The majority of people are willing to change their mobility behaviour for the sake of climate protection, but they don't want to do without it," said ADAC Transport President Gerhard Hillebrand. "That's why it's so important that, despite all the restrictions, the alternatives are always further developed and offered at an affordable price."

koe/dpa