Social leasing could make electric cars affordable for poorer German households 鈥� report
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A social leasing scheme could make it possible for low-income households in Germany to switch to an electric car without having to bear the upfront costs of buying a vehicle outright, found by environmental non-profit 脰办辞-滨苍蝉迟颈迟耻迟. 鈥淪ocial leasing should enable low-income households to use electric vehicles at greatly reduced leasing rates 鈥� without having to have large savings or take out loans,鈥� explained the institute's mobility transition expert Nelly Unger.
Key factors to consider during the design of a scheme are the income threshold for eligibility, the types of vehicles supported, as well as regional differences in the availability of charging infrastructure or other means of transport, the authors concluded. The report referenced a similar programme in France, where eligible people can lease an electric vehicle for as little as 50 euros a month, though the authors highlighted that the French system can鈥檛 be transferred to Germany one-to-one. For example, they noted that mid-range vehicles are more common among low income households in Germany than in France, and suggested that a similar programme should therefore include these models for families in order to encourage wider acceptance. Subsidies or low-interest loans for the installation of charging infrastructure would also help ease costs for low-income households, the report found.
Experts have stressed the importance of socially just climate policies. They warn that support for the energy transition could drop if the lower half of earners aren鈥檛 able to participate. A recent report found, for example, that low-income households are unfairly burdened by the increase of grid fees to finance the electricity grid expansion. Most Germans think the burdens of the energy transition are not fairly distributed, and they have little trust in politicians to handle the shift to electrification properly.
The new government鈥檚 coalition agreement has a brief section on transport policy which mentions a programme to enable low-income households to access electric vehicles, but it doesn't provide any further details.
