German car buyers soon worked out that a heavily subsidised hybrid could often be bought for less than the non-hybrid version of the same model – but could then be run on fuel as much as they liked, making a mockery of so-called climate policies.
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Germany’s EV boom is partly thanks to generous government incentives, but these are also helping to boost sales of big SUVs, reports The Driven.

Government subsidies for electric vehicles are also given to plug-in hybrids which run both on battery power and a combustion engine.

Their sales have picked up by 463 percent compared to September 2019, and it is large SUVs such as the BMW X5 plug-in-hybrid that are profiting from the government premium, Georg Meck writes in Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

And while car manufacturers praise these models as increasing acceptance of electric mobility, researchers and the Green Party say that funding such cars is wasting taxpayers’ money and could even be bad for the climate since a small combustion engine car is cleaner than a large SUV hybrid.

Green Politician Cem Özdemir called it “government funded climate fraud”, Meck writes.

The government’s advisory panel “National Platform on the Future of Mobility” has said that the government should re-design its e-car subsidies.

Full article here.
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The Driven has another article headlined:
‘Don’t park in the garage: Hyundai Australia warns Kona Electric owner of fire risk’

Hyundai is now saying the advice was given in error.

via Tallbloke’s Talkshop

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October 22, 2020 at 03:57AM