Perks eyed for hybrid, electric vehicles

THE BOARD of Investments is mulling incentives for hybrid/electric car importation and assembly as several automotive firms have noted weak demand for the pricey but environment-friendly vehicles, a ranking official said late last week.

Businesses behind these cars could be included in next year’s Investment Priorities Plan (IPP), said BoI Managing Head Cristino L. Panlilio, while a bill similarly proposing incentives remains pending in Congress.

"We will look into that for next year’s IPP," Mr. Panlilio said in a telephone interview.

This, he added, will come on top of BoI support for House Bill 1 which proposes that hybrid cars be exempt from import duties and excise, value-added and ad valorem taxes since these consume less fuel and have lower emissions than traditional fossil fuel-powered vehicles.

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Spain's green scheme stalls as only 16 electric cars are sold

It was supposed to be the centrepiece of Spain's green agenda: within four years a million electric cars would take to the roads, with battery top-up points sprouting up in petrol stations and disused telephone booths across the country.

"Electric vehicles are on their way," said prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero as he unveiled the plans in April. "Let us get ahead and get them here sooner."

But figures released today showed that Zapatero's green dream is some way from realisation: in the first seven months of the year, only 16 electric cars were registered for use on Spanish roads. Even that was a sixteenfold increase on 2009, when just one electric car was registered.

Although the plan also includes subsidies for hybrid electric and petrol-driven cars, makers said they only planned to sell half a dozen of these in Spain this year, according to the ABC newspaper.

That makes the stated goal of having 2,000 electric vehicles circulating by the end of this year almost unachievable. Next year's target had been to get 20,000 electric and hybrid cars on the road.

The failed attempt to kickstart Spain's electric car market comes despite pledges of 80m euros of subsidies for those who buy by the end of next year – with the government funding 20% of the purchase, or up to 6,000 euros, on each car.

The government-sponsored Wind Power and Electric Vehicles group tried to put a brave face on the situation.

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