Pure boondoggle….
If you can’t exist outside government subsidies, you don’t deserve to push your product on the market. They tried it in Israel (a very sunny place) and the whole enterprise crashed in on its head.
Finnish government to kickstart electric car market
The government aims to significantly boost sales of low-emissions cars. Yle has learned that the cabinet wants to earmark 100 million euros in subsidies for electric and biogas cars in an effort to bring hundreds of thousands of them onto the road in the next decade or so.
Electric vehicles (or EV’s) have a high profile at this weekend’s Auto 2016 car fair in Helsinki. The Purosuos, a couple from Vantaa, are test-driving an electric car for the first time.
Saija Purosuo says that she is the one who is particularly interested in an electric car. She says they may buy a hybrid now and wait until electrics have a long enough range to drive to their summer cottage before buying one. Her husband, Tero Purosuo, says he was impressed by how quiet and quick-starting the car was.
Sluggish sales
Despite the buzz around electrics, less than 200 fully electric cars have been sold in Finland this year. There are now about 2,250 fully electric and plug-in hybrid cars in Finland. The sluggish sales are primarily due to their limited driving range and high prices.
For instance, a Renault Zoe EV on display at Auto 2016 has a starting price of around 33,000 euros. Its range with one charging is estimated to be 400 kilometres – but that’s under ideal driving conditions. In Finnish winter conditions it may only be 200 kilometres.
Now the centre-right government is in a hurry to get the EV market going as part of its efforts to meet Finland’s climate commitments under the Paris Agreement. Electric and biogas cars may not be entirely emissions-free, depending on how their electricity or biofuel is produced.
