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“With the environmental bonus, we are promoting the exchange of the vehicle fleet with climate-friendly and environmentally friendly electric vehicles,” says the 15-page paper. For an electric car with a net list price of less than 40,000 euros - such as an Opel Corsa-e, BMW i3, VW ID.3 and numerous import models - this means total funding of 9,000 euros. In the future, 6,000 euros will come from the federal government, the manufacturer's share remains unaffected by the “innovation bonus”. The measure also applies to plug-in hybrids at the somewhat lower funding rates. The measure is limited to the end of 2021, the coalition estimates the financial needs at 2.2 billion euros.
However, the coalition is now also recognizing that plug-in hybrids are not per se more environmentally friendly, but - as experts have repeatedly emphasized - the driving and charging profile is very important. The paragraph on the environmental bonus increase concludes: "As part of the national platform" Mobility of the future ", we will discuss the question of the optimized degree of utilization of the electric drive in plug-in hybrid vehicles." However, the consequences of this are still unclear .
In the version of the environmental bonus that has been valid since mid-February , a net list price of 40,000 euros is the important limit: cheaper electric cars are funded with 6,000 euros, plug-in hybrids in this price range with 4,500 euros. More expensive BEVs are funded with 5,000 euros, with PHEV there are 3,750 euros. The environmental bonus is financed half by the federal government and half by the manufacturers. In practice, VAT is added to the manufacturer's share - more on this below.
There is also a change in company car taxation: for purely electric company cars, the gross purchase price limit for the 0.25 percent taxation has been increased from 40,000 to 60,000 euros. As a result, more models are qualified for lower taxation.
Not a short-term economic measure, but a longer-term incentive is that the vehicle tax for purely electric cars will not apply until the end of 2030 - until now this measure was only limited until 2025. For all other vehicles, CO2 emissions are to be used primarily as the assessment basis for vehicle tax from 2021 and increased “in stages” from a value of 95 grams per kilometer. A precise regulation is still pending here.
So that social services and SMEs do not save on the renewal of their fleets in financially uncertain times, two "fleet exchange programs" are to be launched. “Social & Mobile” is intended to promote electromobility in city traffic and to support non-profit organizations with a total of 200 million euros in 2020 and 2021. There will also be a fleet exchange program for craftsmen and SMEs, which is designed for electric vehicles up to 7.5 tons. This should be implemented "promptly", there are no further details here. Probably the manufacturers who have such models on offer and will be deliverable by the end of 2021.
Manufacturers also receive funding: A bonus program for 2020 and 2021 is intended to support investments in "new technologies, processes and systems". "Research and development for transformation-relevant innovations and new regional innovation clusters, especially in the supply industry, will be funded with 1 billion euros in 2020 and 2021," it says.
What is missing in all the funding for vehicle purchases and fleets are the combustion engines. There had been intensive discussions in advance. On the one hand, a "keep it up" should not be promoted, since in an already slowly declining market such planned vehicle purchases might only have been brought forward - with a subsidy of up to 9,000 euros, a change in drive type may be considered by some customers. Critics criticized that the exclusive promotion of electric cars is not a real economic recovery because of the small number of units.
But combustion engines (like BEV and PHEV) also benefit from a different measure: VAT will fall from 19 to 16 percent from 01.07.2020 to 31.12.2020. With a calculated sum of 20 billion euros, this is the largest single item in the economic stimulus package. However, companies must also pass the reduction on to their customers and not just increase their own margins so that the measure works as desired. Economists refer to a temporary reduction in value added tax in Great Britain in 2008/2009. At that time, the companies passed on the reduction to 75 percent of the customers.
The VDA immediately announced that the manufacturers would pass on the VAT reduction to the customer - after all, it is one of the few measures that will also benefit petrol and diesel engines. "The temporary reduction in VAT is an important measure to get demand in Germany back on track," the association said. In addition, according to the VDA, the companies are examining “how the effect of the reduced VAT can be further strengthened”. Say: More discount promotions are announced.
In practice, the reduction in VAT still has an impact on the environmental bonus, since VAT is added to the manufacturer's share. From July to the end of 2020 that is the 16 percent mentioned. Thereafter, 19 percent will again apply to the manufacturer's share. Unless the temporary reduction in VAT is extended - which the coalition promised in view of a possible second wave of infection in autumn and possibly further economic consequences.
However, the paper makes it clear where the government sees the future - at least in large parts. An additional 2.5 billion euros are to be invested in charging stations and battery cell production and related research. "The expansion of the charging infrastructure as a necessary prerequisite for the ramp-up of e-mobility will be accelerated," says the paper. "The master plan for charging infrastructure should be implemented quickly. In particular, the uniform payment system for charging stations should now be implemented quickly. "In addition, the establishment of publicly accessible charging infrastructure" for example in daycare centers, hospitals, district centers, sports fields "should be intensified.
However, a controversial passage from the “master plan” is also repeated: a supply requirement is intended to regulate that charging stations are also offered at all petrol stations in Germany. A piquant extension is that it should be checked "whether the erection of quick charging stations can be treated as a decarbonization measure for the petroleum industry".
In addition, the "National Hydrogen Strategy", which has been under discussion for months, is to be presented "at short notice. The draft is still being coordinated between the departments. The coalition puts the financial needs here at a total of seven billion euros. For this purpose, industrial production plants with a total output of up to five GW are to be built by 2030 - including the required onshore and offshore energy generation.
Two other important measures for mobility should not go unmentioned: With a total of 1.2 billion euros, private and municipal operators are to be supported in a "bus and truck fleet modernization program" to switch to alternative drives. Literally it says: "In order to increase the demand for e-buses and to make city traffic more environmentally friendly, funding for e-buses and their charging infrastructure will also be increased temporarily until the end of 2021."
In addition, a federal framework regulation is to be drawn up to allow the federal states to grant public transport companies aid to compensate for the greatly reduced ticket revenue. This requires notification by the EU Commission. This year, regionalization funds are also to be increased once by 2.5 billion euros - so that public transport operators can compensate for losses from the lack of passenger income.
Update 06.06.2020 : There are now first signs of how the Federal Ministry of Economics envisions the regulation on the innovation bonus in detail. As the Ministry announced on Twitter, the goal is that the new funding rates can be applied retrospectively from June 4, 2020. The date of approval will probably be decisive, as the ministry confirmed to the “Spiegel”.
However, these are still plans, not a valid guideline. The ministry now has to prepare the decision and then obtain the EU Commission's state aid approval - as it did when the environmental bonus was increased in February. At that time it was also decided to grant the increase retrospectively to November 2019 - the day when the increase in the premium was decided. In this case, however, it is not yet possible to predict when the state aid approval will come from Brussels.
Spiegel.de , bundesfinanzministerium.de (paper as PDF), spiegel.de (update)