Protect French industry or protect the planet? Yesterday, Emmanuel Macron announced the implementation of a new ecological bonus that will no longer affect all electric vehicles. If some describe this measure as protectionist, the Head of State denies it and speaks of the carbon footprint.
It will no longer be enough that vehicles do not emit greenhouse gases to benefit from the bonus, but from one end of the production chain to the other, strict environmental criteria will have to be respected.
After all, what’s the point of buying a clean car in France if it was made in a factory powered by coal-fired power plants?
A laudable initiative but one that runs the risk of complicating the system. Today is very simple. You benefit from a grant of 5,000 euros with no income conditions (7,000 euros for the least advantaged) for the purchase of any new electric vehicle of less than 47,000 euros and less than 2.4 tons. With the new formula to be unveiled in the future ‘green industry’ bill, this will no longer be automatic.
A “patriotic bonus”?
But from the ecological bond to the “patriotic bond” there is only a very small step. And it was Tesla who, among other things, pushed the executive to review his device.
At the beginning of the year, the American manufacturer drastically lowered the prices of its models, especially that of the Model Y, the mini-SUV, which stood just below the bar of 47,000 euros (45,990 euros precisely to date). Therefore, you can benefit from the reduction financed by the State of 5,000 euros.
Result: sales of the American vehicle increased in April by 1800% in one year. Since the beginning of the year, the American has sold 10,700 Model Ys. Thousands of French buyers are canceling their orders for Renault or Peugeot to get on the Tesla.
We find ourselves, therefore, in a situation in which we subsidize high-end vehicles with public money that are also manufactured in China (which is the case of the entry-level Model Y). 40% of the bonuses currently paid are for “made in China” models.
But which electric vehicles will be able to benefit from the bonus in the future?
The Head of State said that he wanted to give priority to production in Europe, considered a priori more virtuous. Except that on the side of Bercy that works on the future bond, it is ensured that there will be no local production criteria. In other words: if you produce your car “properly” in China or Canada, you can qualify for the bonus. If you produce “dirty” in France or Germany, you will not benefit.
The Dacia Spring will no longer have bonuses
“We are in the process of defining the criteria, technical work is being done, it is indicated by the Ministry of Economy. The environmental impact assessment will be done on the battery: the steel that makes up the vehicle as well as the integration of recycled materials”.
If the rules in this area are less restrictive in China than in Europe, it can be thought that in fact the vehicles made there will be at a disadvantage. But what about Tesla vehicles made in the United States or Germany, like the Model 3 and the higher-end Model Y?
It is true that the Model Y versions produced in Germany are the most expensive (Great Range and Benefits) with more than 50,000 euros, so they are not eligible for the bonus. But with an acceleration in production and effects of scale, the American manufacturer has shown in the past that it was able to compress its costs and therefore its prices. To benefit from the bonus again…
The other paradox is that the most popular electric vehicle, that of the less favored classes, is certainly French but is produced in China. This is the Dacia Spring, offered today from 20,800 euros (without bonuses). It is a safe bet that it does not meet the carbon footprint criteria that the government will release in the coming weeks.
As always with the environmental question, the virtuous products are the most expensive and therefore inaccessible to less favored households.
Source: BFM TV
