German govt confirms plan to invest 1b euro to promote e-cars

[BERLIN] Germany announced plans on Wednesday to invest a total of around 1 billion euros (S$1.46 billion) to promote electric cars, whose number on the roads it wants to bring to 1 million by 2020 from only 50,000 now.

"Of this, 300 million euros will be used on the charging infrastructure between 2017 and 2020," Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said, unveiling the plans during a news conference with other government ministers.

Under the new plans, buyers of electric cars will get a 4,000 euro incentive, which will be shared equally by the government and the car industry. The buyers of plug-in hybrid cars will get a premium of 3,000 euros.

Luxury cars with a netto price tag of more than 60,000 euros will not benefit from the scheme, Mr Schaeuble said.

He added that the scheme would start in May and that government was considering additional steps such as tax incentives to make electric cars even more attractive.

REUTERS