Photo: bmwi3.blogspot.com
BMW is currently investing hard in eco-friendly technologies and all this is taking a toll on the company’s profits, understandably. The ever-tightening regulations of the EU are not helping at all and this pressure is bound to crack some walls at some point. The current CEO of the German group feels like the governments around the world aren’t doing all they can to support car makers in this endeavor.
The focus at the current moment is on the automakers and their technologies, everyone asking for cleaner, more eco-friendly cars without pausing to see that there are other parties involved in this continued effort that should do a lot more overall.
BMW Group CEO Norbert Reithofer sees political initiatives as an extremely important factor in the endeavor of drastically reducing the CO2 emissions of fleets. To be fair, he is right, countries that offer rebates for EVs accounting for most of the sales, at least for BMW’s case.
Norway, for example, bought 2,000 i3s last year which is a little less than a quarter of the total sales of the innovative car on a worldwide scale. However, in the Scandinavian country, customers get free parking, free charging and they don’t pay a registration fee or pollution tax.
The same applies in California, where BMW sold 3,000 i3s last year and Shanghai that is offering up to €10,000 in discounts for electric vehicles.
Therefore, there is a pattern that shows that if governments get involved and offer proper incentives, sales of electric cars can go up exponentially. However, things could also get even better according to Reithofer and he claims that there’s a lot more work to be done.
“The German carmakers have delivered their part of the bargain. The ball is in now in the court of policymakers,” he said for Automotive News, referring to Germany in particular as the home country of BMW is one of the slowest to offer proper incentives for potential customers.
At the moment, all you get as an EV driver/owner in Germany is an exemption from annual vehicle tax for 10 years but that’s about it. By comparison, neighboring France and the UK offer financial incentives.
The French get €6,300 while the Brits receive a premium of £5,000 (maximum) or 25% of the value of a new car or £8,000 (maximum) or 20% of the value of a new LCV meeting eligibility criteria. Furthermore, electric vehicles and other vehicles emitting less than 95 grams of CO2 per km can claim a 100% first-year allowance for depreciation. The examples can continue.
BMW Group CEO Norbert Reithofer sees political initiatives as an extremely important factor in the endeavor of drastically reducing the CO2 emissions of fleets. To be fair, he is right, countries that offer rebates for EVs accounting for most of the sales, at least for BMW’s case.
Norway, for example, bought 2,000 i3s last year which is a little less than a quarter of the total sales of the innovative car on a worldwide scale. However, in the Scandinavian country, customers get free parking, free charging and they don’t pay a registration fee or pollution tax.
The same applies in California, where BMW sold 3,000 i3s last year and Shanghai that is offering up to €10,000 in discounts for electric vehicles.
Therefore, there is a pattern that shows that if governments get involved and offer proper incentives, sales of electric cars can go up exponentially. However, things could also get even better according to Reithofer and he claims that there’s a lot more work to be done.
“The German carmakers have delivered their part of the bargain. The ball is in now in the court of policymakers,” he said for Automotive News, referring to Germany in particular as the home country of BMW is one of the slowest to offer proper incentives for potential customers.
At the moment, all you get as an EV driver/owner in Germany is an exemption from annual vehicle tax for 10 years but that’s about it. By comparison, neighboring France and the UK offer financial incentives.
The French get €6,300 while the Brits receive a premium of £5,000 (maximum) or 25% of the value of a new car or £8,000 (maximum) or 20% of the value of a new LCV meeting eligibility criteria. Furthermore, electric vehicles and other vehicles emitting less than 95 grams of CO2 per km can claim a 100% first-year allowance for depreciation. The examples can continue.
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