Although the electric car will be prescribed in 2035 and is said to be superior, Economics Minister Habeck is planning an extra penalty tax for petrol and diesel engines in addition to continuing the purchase premiums. This misallocation of resources must stop. A comment.
The whole country has to save – on energy, when shopping, when driving. Only one group is exempt from this: the electric car drivers. They fly over the vast majority of motorists on a thick green cushion of tax money: purchase bonuses, tax exemptions and company car bonuses, so-called “GHG” quotas for an undetectable reduction in emissions, subsidized wall boxes and charging stations – and now this too: According to the “Handelsblatt”, Economics Minister Robert Habeck is planning a new penalty tax for combustion engines, which he wants to call “climate tax”.
For example, “a CO2-dependent climate tax for new car registrations in combination with a continuation of the e-car premium” makes sense, so that “as a result, e-cars are cheaper than the respective combustion cars,” says the paper , about which the “Handelsblatt” reports.
This renewed misallocation of resources would not only be cheeky for the majority of petrol and diesel drivers, who already have to cross-finance e-mobility at the pump with record taxes and steadily increasing CO2 taxes on petrol. It would also be unnecessary and illogical for several reasons:
In any case, the question arises as to whether the Greens have slowly mutated into the best friend of the auto industry – especially Volkswagen. The VW ID.3 and ID.4 electric car models, which “should be cheaper than the Golf”, are mentioned as an example in the paper cited by the Handelsblatt. Your ears should ring: is it now the task of the state to promote sales for VW – a group that has just been let off the hook in emissions fraud with a comparatively small fine? That can’t really be the ambition of the Greens, who used to – and rightly so – always denounced the close ties between the federal government and the auto industry.
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No, Herr Habeck: Germany doesn’t need more treats for electromobility, it needs fewer. Now the market can and must get involved. New players, such as those from China, are starting out with cheap electric cars. Let them make hell hot for the spoiled German car manufacturers and drive the purchase prices down! The charging infrastructure is no longer the task of the state, but of the private sector: rest area chains, supermarkets, shopping centers and other players can try to find the best charging places and offers. Because the more e-cars there are, the more likely it is that the prospect of a charging station with a customer discount will become a competitive advantage when shopping.
In short: The state should now please stay out of it, stop exploiting the fraction of petrol and diesel drivers – which is still the vast majority – and rather ensure that a safer and more stable electricity network is available for the desired e-mobility in the future stands. Because if that is not guaranteed, no one will want an electric car, even with a purchase premium of 20,000 euros.
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