Sanchez will hold talks with companies on strengthening assistance for electric vehicles

He Government appears to have heeded the auto sector’s grievances regarding the continuity of EV purchase assistance, as it opened the door not only to its eventual continuity beyond July 31st, but also to its eventual continuity beyond July 31st.It was then that the third edition was published Plan your movesbut also plans to make changes that will make the program more responsive and effective.

Chairman of the Government, Pedro Sanchezannounced yesterday in IV Anfak Forumheld in Madrid that the executive will continue to work with the automotive sector to decide “in the coming weeks” on possible improvements to the current subsidy system formulated within Plan your moves. “Efforts will be redoubled” in collaboration with the sector to “improve, strengthen and streamline” the program to support the purchase of electric vehicles and the installation of charging stations.

Thus, Sanchez responded to repeated requests car manufacturers and dealers who are asking for assistance to be extended beyond July 31, when the third edition ends Moves, following an extension announced in November to spend the missing 290 million. In his speech, the chief executive boasted that they were assigned to the autonomous communities through Moves more than 1 billion euros, to which another 24 million euros must be added from Moves fleets.

By saying the government will look into EV assistance, Sanchez is also leaving the door open to changes the auto industry is demanding in terms of current subsidy systemespecially since aid is collected at the time of purchase, rather than as it is now, where it takes more than a year to collect it, so it loses its effectiveness.

Regarding the Moves plan, Anfac and Seat President: Wayne Griffiths, for his part, assured that the program does not work. “This is not a problem of budget or political will, but rather a slow model of care,” he said.

In turn, the CEO of the Renault group and president of the European employers’ association Acea, Luca de Meoalso took part in an event organized by Anfac, explaining that prices for electric vehicles are higher than for internal combustion engine cars, so he defended maintaining the aid to prevent this from happening like in Germany, where registrations plummeted after government subsidies ended. .

Therefore, he indicated that the transition to electric mobility It has to be paid by the customer who has “money”, i.e. the rich, because EVs are structurally more expensive.

On the other hand, De Meo also called for a stronger European industrial policy that would allow the region’s manufacturers to remain competitive. “Europe is dancing the cha-cha while USA and China They are not messing around,” he said, referring to millions in aid to the industry in both countries.

170 million issued

On the other hand, the Prime Minister also said that the commission that evaluates proposals for line B of the second edition Perth WECregarding the electric vehicle value chain, and confirmed that the first batch of ten government aid projects worth 170 million have been assessed, which will mobilize parallel industrial investments of 500 million.

The first projects to benefit from Line B of the second Perte VEC were originally scheduled to be revealed in December last year, but this was delayed. Minister of Industry and Trade, Jordi Hereustated at the end of January that assistance would become known on February 7.

In his speech, Sanchez assured that all funds planned for the Perte VEC have been mobilized: more than 2.280 million have been allocated to more than 700 projects from 550 different companies – the original budget of the first Perte VEC was 2.975 million, of which 793 million have been awarded. Regarding the second edition, the Prime Minister emphasized that it is aimed at reindustrialization and electrification of Spanish factories and stated that this would mobilize 6 billion euros.

Finally, the CEO confirmed that the remaining two Perte VEC challenges will be completed during the remainder of the year. An extraordinary one with a budget of 300 million (200 for subsidies and 100 for financing), which will be launched “in the coming months,” and a fourth, with 1,250 million, which will come in last quarter of 2024.

Touch the ministers

For his part, the Anfac president called on the government to be “bold” in taking decisions that will serve to ensure that Spain continues to be Europe’s second largest car manufacturer and becomes center European electromobility. For this reason, he was very critical of the attitude of some executive ministers. “We cannot have comments from ministers against private cars, even electric vehicles.”

So he asked the executive to “do more” for cars and proposed a complete overhaul of the industry’s taxation, as well as launching a direct aid plan for the purchase of electric vehicles, which would be collected immediately as it would boost sales of these cars.

” taxation This is the key point: the Treasury cannot close the door on climate change,” Griffiths said, adding that Spain could not afford to remain “halfway” again if it wanted to emerge “winning.”