This was one of candidate Emmanuel Macron’s promises during the 2022 presidential campaign: a low-cost electric car rental offer, capped at 100 euros per month. Still vague, the device begins to be unveiled. Here is the first practical information.
And if you could soon access a electric car for 100 euros per month? If the deadline for the legislative elections makes any bill subject to many uncertainties, the new government formed by Elisabeth Borne to begin Emmanuel Macron’s second term as head of the Presidency of the Republic is starting to set the train in motion. reforms and application of the reforms promised by the LREM candidate elected on April 24th.
Among these campaign promises, a new offer to promote the energy transition to the electric vehicle figured prominently, that of a so-called “leasing” rental offer to acquire a new electric vehicle at a low price. “We will deploy an affordable offer of electric vehicles […] by setting up leasing mechanisms to support the most modest households”, explained the candidate Emmanuel Macron on March 17 when signing his entry into the campaign.
With soaring fuel prices, the switch from internal combustion vehicles (gasoline or diesel) to hybrid and above all 100% electric models is becoming a little more strategic and bringing serious savings for many households. It is still necessary to have the means to access these vehicles, which are often much more expensive than their thermal equivalents despite the slew of subsidies and various aids already in place (ecological bonus, conversion bonus, regional aid, etc.). The price remains today a very important obstacle when considering the purchase of an electric vehicle. The observation is clear but cruel: the various aids have mainly benefited fairly well-to-do households and rarely the working classes, yet directly impacted by the rise in fuel prices which weighs on many budgets, mainly for those forced to take their car to go to their place of work.
What will be the conditions for renting an electric car at 100 euros per month?
If the outline of the device still appears vague in many aspects, it is possible to relate to the statements made during the last presidential campaign. Only a few indications on the possible beneficiaries have been given. The detail of the public but also of the models eligible for this device will however be scrutinized closely. To keep a leasing budget of 100 euros per month, the models concerned should not be legion. We can just mention the Dacia Spring, produced in China, and offered today by the Renault subsidiary manufacturer at 119 euros per month in leasing with a first monthly payment which can be financed through existing public aid. As any leasing contract says to long term rental (LLD), the offer is limited to numerous conditions, including that of a maximum mileage not to be exceeded: 40,000 kilometers in 4 years. After 4 years, the rental contract ends and you will have to return the vehicle. Be careful not to have exceeded the mileage and not to have scratched the bodywork of your Dacia Spring under penalty of penalties to be paid.
Same thing for one of the pioneering cars and star of the electric car market, the small Nissan Leaf sedan offered at less than 100 euros per month but for a maximum of 30,000 kilometers to be covered in three and a half years. Big wheeler abstain! The Peugeot e 208, the 100% electric version of the Peugeot 208, has met with great success but is more expensive with the cheapest leasing contract today offered at 149 euros per month plus a down payment. To reach more models, the leasing scheme at 100 euros per month promised by the government will therefore have to provide a substantial subsidy to lower the total cost but also and above all this contribution to be paid at the signing of the contract and which can reach several thousand euros.
Who will be able to benefit from this electric car leasing offer at 100 euros per month?
For the time being, no details on the conditions of eligibility for this future device have been given. If we stick to the first indications given during the presidential campaign, the team around Emmanuel Macron had stressed that the offer of electric car rental at 100 euros per month would be reserved for a certain public, citing socio-economic professions. -medical (who multiply the kilometers as part of their activity), “young people” and a wider public but under conditions of resources. For his part Emmanuel Macron had mentioned at the end of April “couples who earn the minimum wage or a little more”. The scheme could finance the rental of 100,000 electric vehicles per year.
When will the electric car rental offer at 100 euros per month be launched?
If the government intends to move quickly, the device will however have to be integrated into an amending finance bill which can only be presented to the National Assembly after the legislative election and the formation of this new assembly. “It will take a sufficiently robust device for the French to benefit from it immediately”, judged the new Minister for Ecological Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher, guest of the France 5 C program à vous Tuesday, May 24.