A senior member of the French government said the EU should consider regulations such as the US which only subsidizes the purchase of electric vehicles for vehicles made in the European Union.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the EU needed to make such regulations to protect its auto companies and the people it employs.
“[It might be] time to reserve electric vehicle bonuses either for cars produced on European territory or for vehicles that strictly and rigorously meet new environmental standards,” Le Maire told reporters. “We need to play with the same rules if we want to defend our industries, our jobs and our technology.”
The United States government recently passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which made major changes to America’s EV tax credit system and removed production limits. The law requires electric vehicles and critical components including battery parts to be made locally in order to be eligible for the full $7,500 subsidy.
“I think it’s time we started thinking about this idea in Europe,” said Le Maire,
Le Maire highlighted that electric vehicle sales represented 12 percent of new car sales in France in the first seven months of 2022.
In the UK, the government has stopped the subsidy program for the purchase of electric vehicles. Meanwhile, several European countries still offer substantial subsidies to buyers of electric vehicles.
Electric vehicle buyers in France can access grants of up to €6,000 ($5,800) when purchasing electric vehicles that cost less than €47,000 ($45,000). The subsidy is planned to drop to €5,000 ($4,800), but the amount is still a sizeable savings.
