GO ELECTRIC boosts e-mobility
Published on 15 November 2020
Greece
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About this good practice
The 1st subsidy scheme for EVs acquisition in Greece is an initiative of the Greek Government, aiming to boost e-mobility in the country, in line with the EU Green Deal growth strategy. It is expected to help Greece achieve transition towards clean mobility and climate neutral economy by 2050.
E-mobility had very limited take-up in the country until September 2019, due to lack of economic incentives and of a holistic national approach. Since 2014, e-mobility was integrated in the national legislation framework, but in a fragmentary way. Therefore, the Greek government decided to take action by the formation of a dedicated National E-mobility Plan. In order to design this Plan in a rapid and effective way, the Government established a National Inter-Ministerial Committee in 21 October 2019, bringing together key stakeholders with complementary backgrounds, including policy, mobility and energy experts from relevant ministries, universities and research institutes. The subsidy scheme “GO ELECTRIC” is a result of this Plan, among other incentives decided and announced for the promotion of e-mobility.
Beneficiaries of “GO ELECTRIC” are individuals and companies. As the scheme includes most types of vehicles (e -cars, e-vans, e-bikes, e-scooters, e-taxis) it addresses to both drivers and cyclists for buying/leasing 1 EV, allowing businesses to purchase up to 3 EVs if located in the mainland and up to 6 if located in the Greek islands, thus supporting the tourism sector.
E-mobility had very limited take-up in the country until September 2019, due to lack of economic incentives and of a holistic national approach. Since 2014, e-mobility was integrated in the national legislation framework, but in a fragmentary way. Therefore, the Greek government decided to take action by the formation of a dedicated National E-mobility Plan. In order to design this Plan in a rapid and effective way, the Government established a National Inter-Ministerial Committee in 21 October 2019, bringing together key stakeholders with complementary backgrounds, including policy, mobility and energy experts from relevant ministries, universities and research institutes. The subsidy scheme “GO ELECTRIC” is a result of this Plan, among other incentives decided and announced for the promotion of e-mobility.
Beneficiaries of “GO ELECTRIC” are individuals and companies. As the scheme includes most types of vehicles (e -cars, e-vans, e-bikes, e-scooters, e-taxis) it addresses to both drivers and cyclists for buying/leasing 1 EV, allowing businesses to purchase up to 3 EVs if located in the mainland and up to 6 if located in the Greek islands, thus supporting the tourism sector.
Expert opinion
The shift to e-mobility will require significant investment in both new infrastructure and new vehicles. Subsidies have proven a good way to unlock such investment, with more and more countries and regions developing such schemes. Indeed, a number of countries are presently making use of the European Recovery and Resilience Facility to establish new funding instruments for modal shift to e-vehicles. This practice demonstrates a number of strong features, including being embedded within a national e-mobility plan developed with stakeholders (so linked to a broader framework and other initiatives), targeting both individual and business users, and providing a variable grant based on the vehicle, covering all manner of e-vehicles. Though a very young scheme, the success figures are looking goof, unlocking more than 35 million EUR investment from 5 million EUR subsidy. The practice itself was inspired by other practices gathered in the EMOBICITY project, so be sure to check out their other practices on their project page.
Works at
Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform
Resources needed
The budget available for funding is 100 M € for 18 months (Aug 2020 - Dec 2021). The National E-mobility Plan, including the subsidy scheme "GO ELECTRIC", is a result of 9 months’ work by a team of professional experts. Work on the Plan continues for implementation, monitoring and improvements.
Evidence of success
In 1 month operation of GO ELECTRIC the results are more than satisfying:
- No of Applications: 6455 (in Sept 2019 there were 500 EVs in the country)
- E-cars and e-vans: 432, which is 83% of sales for the last 4 years
- 148 private charging stations
- Scraping: 580 scooters, 204 cars
Applications in 1 month cover 12% of total funding available (5,35 M €), while they lead to market turnover of 36,3 M €. Micro-mobility takes the lead as 93% of applications refer to e-bikes and e-scooters.
- No of Applications: 6455 (in Sept 2019 there were 500 EVs in the country)
- E-cars and e-vans: 432, which is 83% of sales for the last 4 years
- 148 private charging stations
- Scraping: 580 scooters, 204 cars
Applications in 1 month cover 12% of total funding available (5,35 M €), while they lead to market turnover of 36,3 M €. Micro-mobility takes the lead as 93% of applications refer to e-bikes and e-scooters.
Potential for learning or transfer
As CRES, the EMOBICITY Lead Partner, was a member of the Committee for the formation of “GO ELECTRIC”, it became the bridge between the project findings and the subsidy scheme. Through EMOBICITY, the subsidy scheme was inspired by the experience of the other project countries (All: HR, DE, PT, RO); thus it was based on in depth research and selection of EU best practices. Transfer of experience focused on:
- Amount of subsidy (up to €5.000 for BEV) (All)
- Application procedure, eligibility criteria, documentation, evaluation (All)
- Types of EVs subsidized: car, bike, scooter, van and taxi (All)
- Micro-mobility supported (PL)
- Focus on target groups (taxis, NL)
- List of e-cars subsidized (Rampla Plus, RO)
- Tourism economy (Azores): Focus in businesses based in islands
In conclusion, “GO ELECTRIC” has integrated best practices from all over the EU and as its first results show, it is a successful funding scheme that can be replicated in other local contexts.
- Amount of subsidy (up to €5.000 for BEV) (All)
- Application procedure, eligibility criteria, documentation, evaluation (All)
- Types of EVs subsidized: car, bike, scooter, van and taxi (All)
- Micro-mobility supported (PL)
- Focus on target groups (taxis, NL)
- List of e-cars subsidized (Rampla Plus, RO)
- Tourism economy (Azores): Focus in businesses based in islands
In conclusion, “GO ELECTRIC” has integrated best practices from all over the EU and as its first results show, it is a successful funding scheme that can be replicated in other local contexts.
Further information
Website
Good practice owner
You can contact the good practice owner below for more detailed information.
Organisation
Ministry of Environment and Energy
Greece
Attiki
Contact
Sustainability Expert