Low earners offered €6,000 subsidy to buy used electric cars

Low and middle income households will be able to claim up to €6,000 from the government towards the cost of buying a second-hand electric car, three years after the last subsidy was abolished.

Junior infrastructure minister Annet Bertram said the government wanted to make EVs more accessible. Figures published last month showed that only 2% of electric cars and plug-in hybrids were bought by the lowest 10% of wage earners.

People with a pre-tax income of up to €27,533 will be eligible for €6,000 towards the cost of a second-hand electric car, while those earning less than €35,793 will be able to claim €4,000 – provided that they scrap their old fossil-fuel car with a registered dealer.

The amount is intended to reflect the difference in price between second-hand electric vehicles relative to petrol and diesel cars.

A total of €52.4 mln has been made available to fund the scheme, which the cabinet hopes to have up and running by the start of next year following an online consultation.

“It is very important for this cabinet that people with modest means can make the switch to an electric car and enjoy the benefits,” Bertram said.

Falling sales

The government scrapped the last scheme to subsidise purchases of new and used electric vehicles in 2024. Discounts on road tax for electric and hybrid vehicles were also phased out.

In the following year EV sales dropped from 32% of the total market to 26%, with the most popular model, the Tesla Model Y, slumping from 2,000 sales in November 2023 to less than 500 in January 2024.

CBS figures showed that people on the lowest incomes were most likely to buy diesel cars and two-thirds of those in the bottom 20% bought vehicles that were more than 10 years old.