17 years have passed since Elon Musk dazzled the world with the first Tesla prototype and laid the foundations that the electric car was going to be the car of the future. But it is difficult for that future to start, despite the fact that almost all brands already have electric vehicles and public incentive programs follow one another. "The problem is that electric vehicles are not sold," noted Wayne Griffiths, president of Anfac and CEO of Seat, this week.
To change this reality, the Council of Ministers agreed last Tuesday to approve a measure that the automotive sector has been demanding for years: that the incentive to purchase a vehicle be linked to taxation. From this June 30, those who buy an electrified vehicle (electric, plug-in hybrid) for an amount of less than 45,000 euros (not including VAT) will be able to obtain a 15% discount on their income statement up to a maximum base of 20,000 euros . That is, a maximum reduction of 3,000 euros. The reduction also applies to mopeds and motorcycles, and in this case the limit is 10,000 euros (not including taxes), which has led to protests from Anesdor, the two-wheeled vehicle employers' association.
This amount will be calculated after having applied the direct discounts of the current Moves III incentive plan, which give the right to 7,000 euros when these vehicles are purchased if a diesel or gasoline car is previously sent to be scrapped.
The aid will also be extended to charging points, for which the 15% deductible will be applicable to a maximum amount of 4,000 euros per year and will be applied when the installation is complete.
The measure has been very well received by the sector. The truth is that the incentive of the Moves plans managed by the CCAAs with this same intention is leaving something to be desired. Spain is in the queue for the deployment of an electrified fleet in Europe, according to data published by the association of vehicle manufacturers Anfac. Sales of 100% electric cars barely reach 4.7%.
The automotive sector also recognizes that more is needed. "A deeper and more comprehensive tax reform would have to be undertaken, and others such as the elimination of the obligation for aid for the purchase of electric vehicles to be computed as work income in the income statement," says Arturo Perez de Lucia, president of the Business Association for the Development and Promotion of Electric Mobility (Aedive). From Anfac they ask for "direct aid at the time of purchase."
The great obstacle to the acquisition of an electric vehicle is its price. Half of Spaniards do not even consider buying an electric car, according to the Study on the Energy Transition prepared by Plenoil. Among those who consider it, 61.25% discard it because of the price. And what is most striking, only half of Spaniards would consider requesting financial aid to access this purchase. They are "those with high incomes, higher education and have already decided to buy an electric car. And 27% of them would only request them if the price of the vehicle was close to that of current combustion vehicles," reflects the study.
“We have spent much more than 2,000 million euros on these incentives and no one has evaluated their effectiveness. Only the Bank of Spain has made an approximate analysis and the result is that it does not meet the objective of encouraging sales”, says the professor of Economics at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Juan Luis Jiménez. He also adds that "the price of cars is not lowered either because they are diluted in the sales chain and are only enjoyed by those who can already buy one of those vehicles and mostly have access to more affordable electricity with solar panels."
In his opinion, public money would be better invested in “recharging infrastructures”, the other great obstacle to the purchase that the Plenoil report indicates. “Now only those who have a place to charge it and solar panels, that is, the highest classes, buy an electric car,” says Jiménez.
