As part of the plan, the government will spend €500 million to develop battery technology and build a network of charging stations across Germany. The government's goal is thereby to place Germany at the cutting edge of innovation amid tough international competition.
According to EurActiv Germany, automotive analysts acknowledge that Germany is behind the pace in the "green-car" race, with countries as diverse as China, Japan and the US investing heavily in electric and other alternative techologies. This week, the Japanese manufacturer Nissan unveiled its all-electric Leaf, scheduled for mass-production in 2012, and other big car-makers including Daimler, Mitsubishi and General Motors have models ready for production.
In Europe, many countries have already introduced schemes, often more ambitious than the German one, to create markets for electric vehicles. Spain has pledged to put one million electric cars on the roads by 2014 while Portugal plans to put in place Europe's first national recharging network for electric vehicles.
The UK, on the other hand, plans to offer subsidies of up to £5,000 to encourage motorists to buy electric or plug-in hybrid cars. The German plan does not provide such direct incentives to opt for an electric car.
However, German Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee and Economics and Technology Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg suggested, while presenting the plan, that the introduction of electric cars could be boosted through "cash-for-clunkers" type incentives, EurActiv Germany reported.
The German government propped up its car-scrapping scheme with €5 billion euro, ten times that earmarked for its electric car revolution. The subsidy - paid to car-owners who traded in their old cars for new ones - proved very popular, boosting the sales figures of the ailing car industry.
The auto industry welcomed the injection of money into the development of the niche techonology. But many cautioned that the plan would hardly lead to a revolution in the market as only a small fraction of German cars would run purely on electricity in 2020, even in the most optimistic scenario.
Climate impact negligent
Climate protection is one of the main drivers behind electric car production as global warming emissions from transport continue to rise in Europe (EurActiv 06/01/09). The continuing growth of transport emissions jeopardises the impact of reductions made in other sectors regulated by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS; see EurActiv LinksDossier).
However, according to WWF Germany, only a 1% reduction in car emissions would be achieved by 2020, even if Germany reached the goal of 1 million electric cars. In any case, one can only talk about zero-emission vehicles if renewable energies are used to recharge the batteries, the conservation organisation stressed, pointing out that the plan does not specify a link to building new renewable energy sources.
Ignoring energy efficiency improvements
The German plan has been criticised for concentrating on cars running purely on electricity while failing to provide incentives for more fuel-efficient models. Subsidising a technology that will take years to make any real contribution to emission cuts simply ignores the potential of energy-efficiency improvements and hybrids, environmental NGO Deutsche Unwelthilfe argued.
(EurActiv Germany contributed to this article)
