EU funds help Swedes on lower incomes go electric

A Swedish government scheme, part-funded by the EU’s Social Climate Fund, is offering rural, lower-income drivers financial support to switch from petrol and diesel to electric vehicles.

“I couldn’t understand why people bought electric cars, because it didn’t look like it was trustworthy,” says project manager Olivia Almquist, who replaced her unreliable 30-year-old petrol car with an electric one. “And now I can’t understand why not everyone is buying an electric car.”

Sweden’s electric car premium gives eligible drivers up to 120 euros a month towards leasing costs, plus a one-off 1,600 euro bonus for the lowest earners. To qualify, applicants must earn under 80% of the national average wage, live in a rural area, and buy a car costing between 6,000 and 40,000 euros.

For social worker Daniel Caldeman, who drives 65,000 kilometres a year, the savings have been dramatic: his monthly fuel bill has dropped from around 800 euros to just 150 euros for charging. “I like being eco-friendly and I think about not polluting the environment,” he says, “so yeah, it was a factor, but I think that the main factor was economics for me.”

Backed by 400 million euros from the EU’s Social Climate Fund, itself financed by carbon taxes raised through Europe’s Emissions Trading System, the scheme has drawn over 20,000 applicants since it launched in March. According to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, nearly 90% of purchases are second-hand vehicles, with officials aiming to eventually help 115,000 households move away from fossil fuels.

Source: www.euronews.com