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ALabor Minister Hubertus Heil had to collect his thoughts when it was supposed to air on Tuesday night: the SPD minister spoke several times about the results of the “Concerted Attention Action” until his colleague, the Environment Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) gently corrected him. : “Today is about taking care of the automotive industry,” he said. Heil had mixed “Concerted Action Care” and “Concerted Action Mobility”. The strange name represents what was supposed to take place later in the evening: the top of the car.
But hours before the federal government’s meeting with industry and employee representatives, Heil, Schulze, Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU) and Economics Minister Peter Altmaier (CDU) wanted to quickly create facts. Because even before negotiations, the result must be determined and announced.
“If things go wrong, you need 6 to 7 hours to travel 400 kilometers”
WELT editor Nando Sommerfeldt was the first to receive the new Volkswagen ID.3 for testing. In the video he shows how well the electric car is doing.
Source: WELT / Nando Sommerfeldt
The press conference with four federal ministers was announced just 15 minutes before kickoff. The most important result: there are billions again for the auto industry. The ministers stressed in unison that this is now the key German industry. The state must do everything possible to ensure that the industry continues to be successful. But then there was a big mess of numbers.
Three billion euros for the automotive industry
Altmaier spoke of a total of five billion euros that will be used to support the automotive industry. But the Minister of Economy reserved two billion euros for the supplier industry, which was already included in the economic stimulus package, twice as much. In fact, there are around three billion euros that should be borne by taxpayers so that the industry can transform itself. And, of course, we must not forget about climate protection, Schulze emphasized in particular.
Therefore, the federal government wants to invest another 1 billion euros in the electric car premium. The so-called environmental bonus was doubled this year, but this higher subsidy should only apply until the end of next year. This increase, the so-called innovation bonus, will now extend until the end of 2025.
However, the federal government is also consolidating that the purchase of plug-in hybrids will also be financed for another five years. Although these vehicles also have an electric motor and can often cover a few tens of kilometers electrically, these vehicles use an internal combustion engine for longer distances. The subsidy is controversial because no one can check whether cars subsidized in this way are truly emission-free locally. Dealers report that at the end of the lease period, plug-in models are often returned with the charging cables in the original packaging, because the owners apparently used the combustion engine almost exclusively.
Altmaier indicated that the government wants to enforce a small condition for the promotion of hybrids: a minimum autonomy will be determined, which must be able to be covered with the car in a purely electric way. However, the economy minister did not want to commit to an exact number of kilometers before the summit.
That is in the final document of the automobile summit.
The draft of the final document, which WELT has, stipulates that from 2022 only plug-in hybrids that can drive at least 60 kilometers electrically should be financed, and from 2025 the autonomy should be at least 80 kilometers.
Another 1 billion euros will go to trucks. The Minister of Transport Scheuer announced a bonus for scrapping trucks of more than 500 million euros, which will promote the acquisition of more environmentally friendly trucks by transport companies if they close old trucks for it. A further € 500 million will be made available for public sector commercial vehicles, so that fire trucks and garbage trucks can also be exchanged for modern models.
However, these are not vehicles with alternative propellants such as hydrogen, because this technology is not yet ready for series production. Instead, the trucks will be powered by more modern combustion engines that meet the current Euro 6 emissions standard.
The last of the three billion euros will go to a so-called future fund, which will be used to pay for measures to transform the automotive industry, such as continuous training or retraining of employees. However, the exact purpose of the fund remains very vague.
Unsatisfied automaker
However, the ministers made no additional financial commitments for the expansion of the charging infrastructure. In the days leading up to the summit, the Automotive Industry Association (VDA) had already pushed for the construction of additional charging stations to be significantly accelerated. There are currently around 200 new charging options per week, but given the rapid increase in EV sales, an additional 2000 charging points would be required per week. It is not clear who should pay for and operate the additional infrastructure. Automakers don’t see their responsibility, after all, they haven’t operated any gas stations so far, instead expecting energy providers and retailers.
In the draft final document, the goal formulated above is to establish 50,000 public charging points by the end of next year. “The federal government expects the auto industry to make a significant contribution to this by the end of 2021 with the promised 15,000 publicly accessible charging points,” the draft says. However, that had already been decided before the summit.
In any case, the automotive industry does not want to be satisfied with the other three billion euros. The problem of the lack of public charging stations persists. This will now be addressed in early December at the so-called charging infrastructure summit. A VDA spokesperson has already announced: “After the summit is before the summit.”
