Habeck wants to make combustion engines more expensive

Driving a car is now more expensive than ever. CO₂ taxes, skyrocketing fuel prices, general inflation – that can make you lose interest. Especially when you are dependent on the car, it gets uncomfortable. Economics Minister Robert Habeck is now considering making new petrol and diesel engines extra expensive.

Petrol and diesel are to become more expensive: Habeck wants to help e-cars

E-cars should drive on our roads in the future. This has not only been clear since the EU vote to no longer allow classic combustion engines from 2035. Then a good conscience drives along for new registrations. But that’s not enough as a reason to buy it. The change should be financially worthwhile for the drivers.

This consideration is ultimately behind the environmental bonus and other incentives for electric cars – and behind a new step that the Ministry of Economic Affairs under Robert Habeck is currently working on: In addition to funding for the purchase of an electric car vehicles with internal combustion engines are to be artificially made more expensive. This emerges from a strategy paper by the ministry, excerpts of which are available in the Handelsblatt, according to the business newspaper.

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There it says that a “CO₂-dependent climate tax for new car registrations in combination with a continuation of the e-car premium” makes sense. The goal: E-cars should become cheaper than comparable counterparts with combustion engines. This becomes clear using the example of VW: The electric models ID.3 and ID.4 should be more attractive to buyers, i.e. cheaper than a Golf.

It remains to be seen to what extent the ID.4 and the Golf can be pigeonholed. Either way, the plans from the Ministry of Economy could be potential Hit buyers hard. That’s exactly what you’re aiming for: buying a combustion engine should hurt so that customers give preference to e-cars.

Part of Habeck’s plans is also one Increased taxation of company cars with internal combustion enginesso that there is also a greater incentive for companies to switch to electric cars.

FDP on e-cars: no longer need funding

However, it is still completely open whether this will happen. Within the traffic light coalition, the signs are not necessarily green: “We need neither subsidies nor penalties to promote e-mobility. Instead, we need our full focus on expanding the charging infrastructure,” said Reinhard Houben (FDP).