Electric cars, incentives pulverized:because it's not (just) good news

Funding for electric cars ran out in less than a day.Italians' interest is growing but many have been left out of the loop.

Just over eight hours and the incentives they went for the purchase of electric cars sold out.This has never happened since the establishment of thecar eco bonus in 2019:in the past – and in particular in the last two years – it had been precisely the vehicle category full electric to proceed slowly compared to vehicles with more polluting engines but at the same time more accessible from a cost point of view.

In Italy the penetration of electric cars stands at 3 percent

And yet this year the over 201 million euros earmarked for the purchase of cars in the range with 0-20 g/km of CO2 emissions were literally pulverized (last December we explained to you in detail what the car incentives provide for 2024).A fact that lends itself to multiple interpretations:the awareness of a growing interest among Italians in electric cars is in fact accompanied by more than one doubt about the methods of accessing the ecobonus, which would risk cutting out a good part of the main recipients of the measure, i.e. private buyers.

For Adolfo Urso, Minister of Business and Made in Italy, "the success recorded on the first day makes us reflect on the further measures we must adopt after this incentive plan".The government, he argued, believes it has already allocated "particularly significant" resources to encourage the replacement of the car fleet in circulation, also in light of a penetration of electric vehicles which in Italy stands at 3 percent, compared to 12 percent in Germany and 18 percent in France.

The request for structural incentives to encourage the turnover of the car fleet

However, the trend of incentives for full electric vehicles that was not in line with the past was highlighted Italian car dealers federation.According to President Massimo Artusi, the competent administrations must "urgently delve deeper into this phenomenon which we consider absolutely anomalous and, probably, not in line with the rationale of the law which is to favor citizens and businesses, while they themselves, the authentic recipients of the provision, are at risk, of ending up cut off from the benefit to bring them closer to the green transition".

The doubt is that some great realities of the rental have found a way to access most of the dedicated resources.A thesis contested by Ministry of Infrastructure, which in a note highlighted how the 62 percent of bookings it was carried out by natural persons through a car dealer, while the remaining 38 percent from legal entities, including long-term rental companies.Values ​​fully in line with market dynamics."

Also Adiconsum highlighted how, in the face of a paradigm shift among Italian motorists who are demonstrating, despite the many fake news in circulation, a strong interest in sustainable purchases and also for full electric vehicles, too many consumers will not be able to take advantage of the funds.The association highlighted how sustainability requires "incentives that must be non-discriminatory, structural, permanent and which must exclude polluting cars".According to Adiconsum, it would therefore be desirable for the Government to intervene to divert the residual funds still available or decree further resources towards cars with lower CO2 emissions.