New scrapping premium with switch to electric car is met with doubt

The new premium applies if you scrap your fossil-powered car that is at least 15 years old. A change to an electric car then gives 10,000 kroner. It is the government’s new offer to speed up the conversion of the Swedish car fleet. A total of SEK 500 million has been earmarked. But neither the car dismantling in Borås nor their industry organization believe in any rush:

– No, I don’t think there will be many cars. It is simply quite a big step to go from a car worth less than 10,000, which is the scrapping premium, to an electric car, says Åsa Post, CEO of Borås Bildemontering.

Compensation for missing climate bonus

The premium can be seen as a small compensation for the climate bonus for electric cars that was suddenly scrapped this year. But neither does the authority that provided the government with documentation believe that the sum is large enough.

– This has been implemented in other countries, including Finland recently. Back then they had a slightly different design, but then they offered 2,000 euros to switch to an electric car. Double up. And still quite a few did. They preferred to take a lower premium and just switch to a newer car, which was not an electric car. So probably 10,000 is too low a sum.

Åsa Post would have preferred to see a scrapping premium with no demand for compensation:

– I think it would have been better with a general scrapping premium, which applies to all cars and regardless of whether you buy an electric car or not. It would still have renewed the car park, she says.

t4-general