Germany to give €1bn subsidy to boost electric car sales

Germany will subsidise electric car purchases to give a jolt to sluggish growth in the sector and help meet national climate goals with zero-emission mobility, the government said Wednesday.

Car buyers will receive €4,000 ($4,500) when they choose a purely electric vehicle and €3,000 for a plug-in hybrid, with the cost shared 50-50 between the public purse and car makers.
The programme starting next month aims to help Germany approach its goal of putting one million electric cars on the road by 2020 – up from around 50,000 now out of Germany’s 45 million cars.
So far, German auto giants Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW have signed up to it, but the programme is open to all national and foreign brands.
The government has budgeted €600m for the purchase subsidies, which are expected to run until 2019 at the latest.
 The money will be disbursed on a first come, first served basis for cars priced no higher than €60,000, said finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble.