Interest in incentives to purchase electric vehicles is lower than expected

With increasingly comprehensive incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles, a large number of sign-ups were expected this year. However, it appears that demand has fallen, possibly in response to new demands, such as the need to deliver a vehicle with a combustion engine that is more than ten years old for scrapping.

These changes to the incentive program aim, according to the Government, to accelerate the renewal of the automobile fleet, with the removal of old and less efficient vehicles from the roads in terms of emissions. The idea is that each subsidy granted not only encourages the purchase of electric cars, but also reduces the number of combustion cars in circulation.

Only 51 registrations made so far
Since the opening of the program on October 17, the number of applications in the electric passenger vehicle category has been well below expectations, with only 51 applications out of a total of 1050 vacancies for citizens and 400 for social organizations.

To date, 23 of the applications have been approved, while 13 have been rejected due to lack of compliance with the criteria and another 11 are awaiting additional documentation, according to Pedro Faria, president of the board of directors of the Association of Electric Vehicle Users (UVE), in an interview with Jornal de Negócios.