The German government has launched numerous initiatives to promote electric mobility and make the technology suitable for greater use since 2012. There are now 220,000 electric vehicles in Germany. The intrepid goal by 2030: An increase to ten million electric cars, as well as one million charging stations. To this end, the Ministry of Transport is leading the way in 2020 by launching and extending some incentive programs for electric vehicles and the expansion of the charging infrastructure.

Introduced in 2016 as a subsidy for the purchase of an electric car, the environmental subsidy will become even more attractive in 2020: In addition to the extension until 2025, buyers of an electric car with a maximum price of 40,000 euros will now receive a subsidy of 6,000 euros, instead of 4,000 euros. For plug-in hybrids, the subsidy will increase from 3,000 to 4,000 euros. The grant for electric cars is also available for leased vehicles. The German state of North Rhine-Westphalia will even double the subsidy.

The German government is increasingly promoting private charging stations to make it even easier to integrate electric mobility into everyday life. Photo: Mascot/GettyImages

Subsidy for electric cars: Tax advantage for company cars and vehicle fleets is double

Also new: Drivers of newer used electric vehicles are also entitled to the environmental subsidy, provided that a subsidy has not already been applied to the vehicle. In addition, the car must have been owned by the previous person for between four and eight months, with no more than 8,000 kilometers driven overall.

However, companies and users of company cars benefit the most. The tax advantage for electric cars used both as company cars and privately was doubled once more. In other words, the company car tax will drop to 0.25 percent, down from 0.5 percent. In addition, the vehicles only have to be taxed at 25 percent of the taxable amount now. This is particularly attractive for shipping companies: The new special depreciation. Self-employed persons and trade and repair businesses can write off the new acquisition of a purely electric delivery vehicle once at 50 percent of the acquisition costs, provided that the gross vehicle weight does not exceed 7.5 metric tons.

More infrastructure and research to promote electric mobility

In addition to financial incentives, the German government is also expanding its commitment to research and infrastructure development. There are 21,000 charging stations throughout Germany now. By 2030 there should be one million publicly accessible charging stations. Minister for Transport Andreas Scheuer has worked to establish an operations center that as of 2020 will coordinate measures to accelerate expansion work. A new subsidy package has already been put together: By 2030, the German government wants to invest more than three billion euros to make the charging station network suitable for a grander scale. There are also efforts to invest a total of 50 million euros in subsidies for privately owned charging stations in 2020. It is also planned to increase the number of charging stations in parking lots, for example, for supermarket customers. Whether for private or company use, grants for charging stations for electric cars are gaining traction.