The government of Sweden announced that the government would no longer incentivize electric vehicle purchases, effective November 8, 2022, according to Teslarati.
The Swedish government has decided to immediately end EV incentives, as they argue that the vehicles have reached price parity with gasoline-powered alternatives. The decision was announced on November 7 and will come into effect by November 8.
Notably, similar policies have been pursued in other European countries as EV purchases quickly increased in recent months.
“The cost of owning and driving a climate bonus car is starting to be comparable to the cost of owning and driving a petrol or diesel car. Therefore, the climate bonus is abolished. This means that anyone who buys or orders a climate bonus car after November 8 2022 will not receive a climate bonus.” said the post on the Swedish government’s website.
The announcement states that if citizens can prove that the EV purchase was made before the deadline, they will still be eligible for the incentive for over six months after purchase.
EV incentives in European countries
As several European countries approach ever-higher sales numbers of electric vehicles, they, too, have begun to shrink or remove EV incentives. Most recently, EV incentives were cut for the coming year in Germany.
Meanwhile, in the case of Sweden, as per the announcement, “climate bonus cars today make up around half of new car sales of passenger cars and are available in most price ranges.” Hence the government’s lack of concern about the removal of incentives.
Until now, Swedes have access to a similar discount as Americans when buying EVs, roughly $7,000 for all-electric vehicles, with less money granted to hybrid and natural gas vehicles.
Norway as the global leader in the market share
In addition, Scandinavian countries led the way in the shift to electric mobility. For instance, with three decades of policy designed to encourage EV purchases, Norway is the global leader in the market share, with more than 8 out of 10 car sales being electric.
Sweden’s sales in June
However, Swedish sales took off in June, which resulted in battery-electric cars amounting to one in four car sales, and plug-ins amounting to half of all sales.
“It has become a completely different climate in the media around electric cars,” said the leader of Electric Car Sweden, Magnus Johansson, regarding the increase in Sweden’s EV sales.
“We see that there is an increase, not only in the cities, but also in the districts,”
Now, the question revolves around what will happen to consumers who bought an EV but have not been able to claim their bonus yet.
“We have no information at present about new budget decisions, but when we receive new grants, we will resume work on paying our climate bonuses. Those who have already submitted an application remain in the queue,” said Swedish Transport Agency Mats Einarsson in a press release.
It remains unclear how Sweden’s EV demand will be affected. However, many anticipate the consistent growth of Scandinavia’s EV market to grow steadily.
