New scheme for EV purchases in the pipeline

New schemes providing incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles are expected to be announced within the next two weeks, the transport ministry said.

About 2,500 applications will be approved as part of the subsidy scheme for the purchase of electric cars and for withdrawal of old ones, the director general of the transport ministry Yiannis Nicolaides told state radio Trito on Thursday.

The applications will be submitted electronically. If they exceed the number of available grants, beneficiaries will be selected at random electronically, Nicolaides said.

According to Eurostat data, 66 per cent of cars in Cyprus were older than ten years old. A mere four per cent of passenger vehicles were less than two years old as of December 31, 2020 and just ten per cent were between two and five years old.

In total 20 per cent of cars were between five and ten years old, 49 per cent were between 10 and 20 years old and 17 per cent were older than 20 years.

However, the national goal for registered electric vehicles in 2022 was surpassed by 144 per cent according to the transport ministry.

Previous incentives announced for the purchase of electric vehicles, included taxis and buses, and transportation means with lower emissions in combination with a car scrappage scheme.

The first scheme, announced back in November 2021 with a €4m budget, concerned the scrappage of cars older than 12 years and their replacement with new ones with lower emissions, or with electric bicycles or in exchange for bus tickets.

For the scrappage of an old car and its replacement with a new one that emits less than 50 grammes per kilometre of carbon dioxide, the subsidy was at €7,500. In total 360 subsidies were on offer.

For those wishing to scrap an old car and purchase a taxi that emits less than 50g/km CO2 the subsidy was €12,000 (33 subsidies).

Another subsidy amounting to €10,000 was offered for the scrappage of an old car and purchase of a new one for disabled people emitting less than 50g/km CO2. The same applies for purchasing a car for large families (20).