Hungarian government to rethink EV subsidies

Hungary’s government will revamp its subsidy system for all-electric vehicles to favour smaller, cheaper cars, state secretary for energy and climate policy Péter Kaderjak said on Wednesday.

In the latest tender for electric vehicle (EV) subsidies, which concluded on Feb. 24, the state subsidy covered 21 percent of the purchase price of new EVs but were capped at 1.5 million forints per vehicle. Vehicles with price tags up to 20 million were eligible for the subsidies.

Kaderjak said

subsidies of some 3 billion forints supported the purchase of 2,800 EVs since the support was rolled out in 2016 and more than 16,000 “green” number plates were issued.

Green number plates which confer tax preferences and other benefits are available for all-electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids that can travel at least 25km on a single charge, hybrids that can travel at least 50km using electric power, and other zero-emission vehicles.

The government is also working on changes to that system, he added.

Support for EVs is one of the points of a climate protection plan unveiled by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán earlier in February.

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