Friday, December 7, 2007

French CO2 Feebate Plan Good News for Electric Cars

The French government's Ministry of Ecology has instituted a CO2 based "feebate" scheme. Low emission vehicles will receive a rebate, high emission cars will be assessed a fee. Mid level emitters, representing about 45% of the cars currently sold, will be unaffected. As reported on the Green Car Congress website, electric vehicles would receive 5 times the rebate available to the best currently conceivable ICE vehicle. A Smart Car emitting less than 100 grams of CO2 per km would receive a €1000 ($1466) rebate. An electric car would receive €5000 (over $7300.)

French automakers probably have put more electrics on the road than all others combined, although they were limited to fleets. Hopefully this will spur Renault and Peugeot to offer consumers EVs.