Funding increased for first round of electric vehicle purchase measure
The Ministry of the Environment has decided to make use of the entire initial budget of the support measure for the purchase of electric vehicles in the first application round and find additional funds for the planned second round.
"As there was great interest in the support measure and the entire €1.2 million budget was exhausted very quickly in the first application round already, we deemed it reasonable to support as many applicants as possible now, as they have already done in-depth preparatory work for it," Minister of the Environment Rene Kokk (EKRE) said in a press release on Wednesday. "This way, we'll prevent excessive bureaucracy for all parties involved. We are also looking into options for opening a second round."
The Environmental Investment Centre (KIK) began accepting applications for the measure at 9 a.m. on January 17; the initial budget for the first round, €600,000, was exhausted by 1 p.m. that same day.
"We are currently going through the applications on a first-come, first-served basis, and the first decisions should be announced to applicants in the second half of next week," KIK director Andrus Treier said.
"Instead of the €600,000 initially to be disbursed in the first round, we can now make significantly more positive decisions," Treier said. "We will discuss the time and budget of the second round with the Ministry of the Environment and will announce it to the public soon. The exact amount is still to be determined, but it is likely that the next round will be significantly smaller in volume."
€5,000 per vehicle
Altogether 85 applications for the purchase of 297 vehicles for the combined sum of €1.485 million were submitted in the first round. Of the applicants, one third were private individuals and two thirds were companies. 11 companies have applied for the purchase of 15 vehicles and 54 individual applicants are seeking to purchase just one electric vehicle.
Eligible for a €5,000 subsidy is the the purchase of a fully electric M1 or N1 (passenger car or van) category vehicle costing up to €50,000 exclusive of VAT.
A total of €1.2 million has been earmarked for the Ministry of the Environment-developed program, which will be funded from the proceeds of EU carbon emissions auctions.
-
Download the ERR News app for Android and iOS now and never miss an update!
Editor: Aili Vahtla
