Thousands of electric cars are disappearing from German roads: business with environmental bonuses is booming

Bagging environmental bonuses and reselling them is a great way to earn a lot of money with an e-car. Not only customers earn well from the model, but also some car dealers. Their profits are paid for with tax money. More than 100,000 e-cars are said to have disappeared from German roads.

Tesla at the top: Once the environmental bonus has been collected, sales continue

If you buy an e-car, you can drive around for half a year practically for free. The regulations make it possible environmental bonus. It currently provides for a minimum holding period of six months. If you sell your new electric car faster, you have to pay back the subsidy.

But you can make good money with young used vehicles. Due to the scarce availability of new cars, used cars have sometimes even been sold for more money than an identical new car in recent months. For example, at Tesla it looked like this. And the e-cars from Tesla are also among those with whom the environmental bonus is particularly popular.

Around a quarter of all Teslas, that have been registered in Germany since 2012 have since been deregistered from the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) (source: mirror). Some of this can also have other reasons, such as an accident with a total loss. According to industry analyst Matthias Schmidt, the majority of the minus is due to sales in other European countries.

A look at the data from the KBA shows how many cases there are: Between January 2012 and July 2022, around 890,000 purely electric cars were registered in Germany. Over 100,000 of them have already been deregistered. According to Schmidt, resales abroad should play a major role. In the meantime, a lucrative business model has developed from this, especially with the higher environmental bonus.

What you probably didn’t know about the successful e-car manufacturer Tesla:

Scandinavia benefits from the German environmental bonus

Car dealers should also accept young used e-cars at particularly good prices shortly after the end of the six-month holding period. Because the sale is worthwhile, especially to Denmark, Schmidt continues. There, customers could avoid the luxury tax by buying a used vehicle.

The e-cars thus benefit the environment elsewhere, while the bonus is ultimately financed by German taxpayers. This was planned differently by politicians, who want to at least put a small stop to the business model by changing the funding guidelines: From autumn 2023, the minimum holding period for the environmental bonus is to be raised to 12 months.