The government of Sweden has announced that effective tomorrow, November 8th, the government will no longer incentivize the purchase of electric vehicles.
The Swedish government has decided to abruptly end EV incentives, as they argue that the vehicles have reached price parity with gas and diesel alternatives. The decision was announced today and will come into effect tomorrow (November 8th). Similar policies have been pursued in other European countries as the rate of EV purchases has rapidly increased in recent months.
In the post on the Swedish government’s website, the announcement begins by stating (translated from Swedish):
“The cost of owning and driving a climate bonus car is starting to be comparable to the cost of owning and driving a petrol or diesel car. Therefore, the climate bonus is abolished. This means that anyone who buys or orders a climate bonus car after November 8th 2022 will not receive a climate bonus.”
The announcement stipulates that if citizens can prove the purchase was made before the deadline, they will be eligible for the incentive for up to 6 months after purchase.
As numerous European countries approach ever-higher sales numbers of electric vehicles, they too have begun to shrink or remove EV incentives; most recently in Germany, EV incentives have been slashed for the coming year. In the case of Sweden, according to the government’s announcement, “climate bonus cars today make up around half of new car sales of passenger cars and are available in most price ranges.” Hence the government’s lack of apprehension in removing the incentives.
Until now, Swedes have been able to access a similar discount as Americans when buying electric vehicles, roughly $7,000 for fully electric vehicles, with less money awarded to hybrid and natural gas vehicles. It remains unclear how the demand for electric vehicles in Sweden will be affected, but many anticipate the consistent growth of the EV market in Scandinavia to continue to grow.
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