At the end of 2022, the government abolished the environmental bonus that was supposed to encourage the purchase of more environmentally friendly cars.
Since the abolition of the environmental bonus, sales of electric cars to private individuals have plummeted.
On 20 August this year, a scrapping premium was introduced instead, which means that whoever scraps their old petrol or diesel car is entitled to SEK 10,000 when buying a new or used electric car.
The government set aside 250 million
The scrapping premium has received a lot of criticism, and appears at the summation of the first month as a total flop.
At the time of introduction, the government set aside a full 250 million kroner, which according to the Confederation of Sweden M is enough for 5,000 applications a month.
However, during the first month (September 2024), the responsible authority Boverket notes only 24 completed cases.
DON’T MISS:
The EX90 is supposed to be the safest Volvo ever — flops in the moose test
Chinese electric cars to the EU – big change since last year
A “monumental misconception”
According to Carl-Erik Stjernvallsustainability manager at M Sweden, it is no wonder that interest is weak for the scrapping premium, which he describes as a “monumental misconception”.
According to Stjernvall, those who scrap a car to get 10,000 kroner are not the same group of consumers who spend hundreds of thousands of kroner on an electric car.
– Making the support conditional on the person who scrapped their car having to buy or lease an electric car makes the scheme difficult to understand. SEK 10,000 is only a fraction of the price of an electric car, it almost falls within the bargain, says Carl-Erik Stjernvall in a press release.
According to Stjernvall’s calculations, the bonus only corresponds to a discount of SEK 277 per month, while an electric car costs between SEK 4,000 and 10,000 per month in private leasing.
– It is not a subsidy worth the name, he says.
DON’T MISS:
Simple AI trick could revolutionize electric cars
The Prime Minister wants to lift the ban on petrol and diesel cars