Car buyers in Europe can now get their hands on a brand-new electric vehicle for less than the typical cost of a mobile-phone contract. Thanks to newly generous subsidies, some are even free.
The state support is allowing Autohaus Koenig, a dealership chain with more than 50 locations across Germany, to advertise a lease for the battery-powered Renault Zoe that is entirely covered by subsidies.
In the 20 days since it put the offer online, roughly 3,000 people have inquired and about 300 have signed contracts for buying electric Zoe.
In fact, Germany is currently subsidizing the electric vehicles so aggressively that leasing the best-selling five-door Renault Zoe EV is now essentially free.
In France, sales of Renault’s Zoe model are on track to double this year even as demand for gasoline vehicles has cratered. And in the Netherlands, where the city of Amsterdam is banning non-electric cars from 2030.
A 10 million-euro ($11.4 million) fund to support EV purchases was used up in just eight days this month.
Buyers will have to read the fine print, as some offers come with additional one-time fees or down payments. And not everyone in Europe is spending more to speed up EV adoption, with the U.K. and Belgium recently cutting aid. China had planned to end its subsidies this year but extended them to 2022 in response to the pandemic.
But in general, the picture looks attractive for European buyers as the continent is home to eight of the nine countries with the largest national purchasing-subsidies, according to BNEF.
Reference- BloombergNEF, Economic Times, Futurism, InsideEVs