France Boosts its Electric Car Industry
After the serious crisis, which affected the PSA car maker group the last few weeks, the French government has just announced a massive plan to support the national “green” car industry. This plan consists particularly in increasing the Bonus ecologique (ecological bonus), which is a government’s grant deducted from the selling price when you purchase a new environmentally-friendly car. The lower the CO2 emission level is, the higher the grant will be. For electric cars, this grant was before €5,000 and would be now of €7,000, a windfall for the Renault’s new electric car (Zoe) expected to be launched in 2013. The purchasing price for a Zoe is planned to be €13,400 and will be thus for the customer divided into more than two after the deduction of the ecological bonus!
In addition to the electric cars, which represent only 1% of the market, the government plans to give a boost to the hybrid cars by duplicating the bonus to €4,000. Regarding the least polluting thermal engines, they will be subject to some increases in bonus as well, though to a lesser extent. These bonuses are expected to cost 490 million euro over the next year. This cost will be offset by a duplication of the increase in premiums for the cars which emit more than 180g of CO2/km. The French state also commits itself that one out of four cars it will purchase will be electric or hybrid, and wants to convince the councils to do the same in order to reach about 11,000 vehicles per year.
Due to the difficulties led by the decrease in car sales in Europe, the French car industry companies will benefit from financial support in their investments, especially in research and development, and their treasury. Furthermore, France should soon ask to the European Union to review the free-trading agreement with South Korea, which opens the European borders to the competitive Korean cars and thus is considered as a threat for the demand of European cars.
So, in the next few years do not be surprised if numerous French citizens start driving electric cars!