The French government has suspended an electric car leasing scheme after only six weeks following a surge in demand that more than doubled the number

France halts €100-a-month electric car leasing scheme after huge demand

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2024-02-13 14:00:10

The French government has suspended an electric car leasing scheme after only six weeks following a surge in demand that more than doubled the number of vehicles required.

Officials said the scheme, launched in December to help low-income households and cut carbon emissions, would be relaunched next year.

Originally, 25,000 European-built electric cars were to be offered to lease from €100 (£85) a month, but this was doubled after massive demand. The government said it had received more than 90,000 applications by the end of January.

“It’s a real success story and symbolic of French environmental policy. It is good for the wallet and good for the planet,” an adviser to President Emmanuel Macron said.

Motorists who balked at the cost of buying an electric car – which are typically more expensive than a petrol or diesel vehicle – were offered a means-tested leasing scheme at a cost of €100-€150 a month for a vehicle worth €47,000 or under.

Applicants had to be over 18, live in France, live at least 15km (9 miles) from their place of work and drive more than 8,000km a year as part of their professional activity and have a household taxable income of less than €15,400 a person. The three-year leasing contract can be renewed once with the option to buy the vehicle, which must have been manufactured in France or elsewhere in Europe. The government is subsidising each vehicle up to a maximum of €13,000.