Almost “free”: in France and Germany, electric cars are bought as buns, coronavirus also contributes



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Is Europe crazy about electric cars?

After billions of euros in injections from the German and French auto industries affected by coronavir, the market is recovering faster and faster. And automakers, dealers, and buyers in particular have a lot to enjoy.

Thanks to particularly favorable conditions, shoppers are reported to have simply flooded online car shops in Germany and France.

Now electric cars in these countries don’t even need to be advertised. Suffice it to say that all electric car rentals are covered by state support and buyers are in a hurry to buy them themselves. Conditions are so good that the Renault Zoe electric car has become free.

Here, Autohaus Koenig, which has 50 offices in Germany, has released this information. Facebook account, and in just 20 days, 3,000 people have applied, and 300 of them have already signed contracts.

“If we had more sales staff, we would have sold even more,” says Wolfgang Huber, who is in charge of electric car sales at the company’s Berlin office, and asks customers to be patient. “We expected sales to grow with subsidies, but we were surprised by that interest.”

French President Emmanuel Macron and German and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are working to revitalize the auto industries, which are vital to both countries, as soon as possible, and are investing billions of euros in them. A fairly significant part of this money goes to direct subsidies that encourage the purchase of electric cars. Here they are € 7,000 in France and € 9,000 in Germany.

According to BloombergNEF, the subsidies offered by these countries are probably the most favorable in the world, and eight of the nine countries with the largest subsidies for the purchase of electric cars are in Europe.

Sales of Renault Zoe electric cars are likely to double this year, from € 10 million in the Netherlands. The € 1 billion fund to support the purchase of electric cars was emptied in just 8 days this month.

Europeans are increasingly buying electric cars, and it is difficult to resist such a temptation.

Electric cars have become practically free

The grants in Germany have reportedly increased the turnover of the German car sales website Carfellows by almost 10 times.

“It is a golden moment for us,” said Rainer Westdoerp, a Berlin-based startup that will offer a full-equalization smart lease for just € 9.9 a month starting Wednesday.

Rainer claims that in June Carfellows was forced to decline a similar offer for this Smart model because it received up to 1,000 inquiries in three days and the automaker was no longer able to deliver the required quantity.

Due to risk assessment and taxes, companies get better terms to buy an electric car, but even ordinary buyers have nothing to complain about. The monthly payment is just incredibly low, and it’s also covered by subsidies.

In Germany, an electric car is available for € 39 a month, and in France a Renault Zoe is available for € 79 a month.

Not everyone is so generous and that support will definitely not last forever

Obviously, now is the best time to buy an electric car in Germany and France. And it is clear that not all European countries really use the same tactics. In Lithuania, one can only dream of that, but the UK and Belgium are in no hurry with subsidies. On the contrary, these two countries have reduced them.

Although not all are so generous, Europe stands out worldwide. Support for electric cars is higher here. However, experts emphasize that this will certainly not last forever and that countries’ leaders and governments will need to be prudent and timely and reduce the amount of support for electric cars accordingly.

“The drop in battery prices suggests that around 2025 electric cars will cost less than gasoline. And when that happens, the market will recover without subsidies,” says Aleksandra O’Donovan, analyst at BloombergNEF.



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