December 31 is the deadline. If nothing changes, anyone who buys an electric car from January 1, 2025 will not have purchase aid. Although the Government promised to make important changes, at the moment the MOVES III Plan is in exactly the same situation as months ago.
What do we know for next year?
The MOVES III Plan. This aid program for the purchase of electric cars has become an essential claim for the acquisition of new electrified vehicles. In the case of electric cars, 4,500 euros of purchase aid are provided to any electric vehicle (or plug-in hybrid with more than 90 kilometers of autonomy) whose price is less than 45,000 euros before applying VAT. Another 2,500 euros can be added to this figure if a car that is more than seven years old is scrapped.
In the case of plug-in hybrids, the direct aid is 2,500 euros and a vehicle is scrapped, with the conditions mentioned above. Manufacturers are obliged to contribute this aid with another 1,000 euros discount, which has generally already been cut from the retail price shown when you enter the configurators.
Recurring problems. Purchase aid, despite everything, has been repeatedly criticized by consumers and manufacturers. The process requires requesting aid from the autonomous community which, in turn, receives the funds from the State and subsequently distributes them among the applicants after verifying that they meet the conditions for this.
This prevents, as in other countries, the discount from being applied directly at the time of purchase, which according to the manufacturers is essential to encourage sales. At this time, requesting help for the purchase of an electric car can lead us to a waiting time to collect aid between 12 and 18 months from when the application is submitted.
An advance that is already the norm. To alleviate these waiting times, they are increasingly more manufacturers advance 7,000 euros discount on the purchase of your electric cars. In reality, it is an interest-free loan through your financial institution that usually has a term of 18 months without interest. Thus, the client can return the money later or as part of the last installment.
Beyond the purchase. It must be taken into account that the MOVES III Plan does not only focus on the purchase of electric cars. Electric car chargers are also subsidized. For individuals and self-employed workers, the Government covers 70% of the installation cost before VAT is applied, up to a maximum of 5,000 euros. In municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants, aid reaches 80%.
This is just one of the cases that are considered. There are also subsidies on facilities for companies (with increases in the amount for SMEs) and discrimination based on the power of the charging point. All the details can be found at this link.
And in 2025? In 2025, for now, nothing. When we write this article, there are exactly two weeks left until the MOVES III Plan is completed but nothing has been approved. We already experienced a similar situation this summer when in July the deadlines to request aid for the purchase of an electric car were extended until the end of 2024. And also last year when in November they were extended until the first half of 2024.
The last thing we know is that the Government has committed to “there being something”, in the words of Josep María Recasens, president of ANFAC (automobile manufacturers’ association), collected by the The Automotive Tribune. “At 99% it will be an extension of the line of subsidies for the current zero-emission car,” they point out in the media specialized in the automobile industry.
Will there be any changes? In principle no, if we pay attention to Recasens’ words. According to the president of ANFAC and president and general director of Renault Group Iberia, he expects a very continuous extension, with aid of between 6,000 and 7,000 euros that will be applied with the activation of a new line of credit.
However, this is not what the Government promised. Last February, Héctor Gómez, Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, assured that they were aware that “the MOVES Plan has its strengths and weaknesses. From a temporal point of view, making the aid more flexible so that it is collected when “Buying the vehicle is a step that we are going to take, that is the commitment.”
The statements came after Pedro Sánchez, President of the Government, closed the last ANDAC Forum by assuring that they would review the MOVES III Plan “in collaboration with the sector”, while praising the industry. “We are going to be at your side to turn Spain into the great mobility hub.”
Photo | renault
In techopiniones | Moves III Plan: how to request it and requirements for aid for the purchase of the electric car