Electric cars to miss target

– Subsidies to help persuade Germans to buy electric vehicles have helped boost demand but cannot go on forever, Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday.

Germany wants to increase electric car sales, especially in the wake of a diesel emissions cheating scandal that has engulfed the motor industry in the last three years. A one billion euro (R169 billion) subsidy scheme helped more than double sales last year.

“Now there is talk about extending (incentives). But this cannot be a permanent subsidy,” she told an e-mobility event, reiterating that Germany would miss its target of having one million electric vehicles on the road by 2020 by two years.

She also repeated her call for European countries to develop battery cells. Currently the industry sources them from Asian manufacturers. – Reuters

Berlin