Plug-in hybrids: Climate-damaging waste of taxpayers' money?
Not often enough do companies use the more environmentally friendly electric driving mode in company cars. Now T&E is calling for the government to put plug-in company cars on an equal footing with internal combustion cars when it comes to tax breaks.
A month ago, the federal government announced that purchase incentives for plug-in hybrids would be abolished this year. However, this does not mean the end of tax breaks for hybrid vehicles. Tax breaks for company cars with plug-in hybrid drive systems will continue to exist. This is despite the fact that there are many arguments in favour of abolishing the company car privilege for cars that are not purely electric.
Even in the coalition agreement, the government had stated that in future plug-in company cars would be taxed in the same way as internal combustion vehicles. Only if the electric share of driving can be proven to be at least 50 % can such vehicles continue to benefit from tax advantages. So far, however, these promises have not been kept, which is causing doubts in the environmental and transport sector. Above all, the consequences from a financial and environmental perspective are questionable.
If the state continues to allow plug-in service cars to be taxed only at a lower rate, this decision will cost the treasury money. According to calculations by the environmental organisation Transport & Environment Deutschland (T&E), the cost of covering the measure will be about 1.2 billion euros over the next two years.
Costs that are not only too high, but that could ideally be invested in other ways to benefit not only the automotive industry, but also the environment. For example, they could be used within the framework of the purchase premium for purely electric cars in the period 2023 and 2024. More than a third of the subsidies allocated for this purpose - according to T&E Germany in its analysis - could be covered by removing this indirect subsidy for so-called "fake electric cars".
Most importantly, the end of tax breaks for hybrid service cars would mean fewer plug-in vehicles on the road, which could be a significant contribution to the fight for transport decarbonisation. It has been wrongly assumed in the past that cars of this drive type are driven in electric mode far more often than is actually the case. Their emission levels - and consequently their harmful impact on the environment - have been underestimated.
It is "absurd that they get tax breaks even though they have proven to be inefficient and hardly ever driven electrically as luxury cars," says T&E director of the German sector Stef Cornelis. For example, a Mercedes GLC, currently among the most popular plug-in hybrids, consumes about four times more fuel than officially stated when driving as a company car. In the eyes of T&E, supporting the purchase of such vehicles through tax benefits is "a political mistake that we should finally correct".
This is precisely why the umbrella organisation is calling on the German government to finally keep the promises made in the coalition agreement and to continue to provide financial support only for purely electric vehicles or other forms of alternative mobility. "If the government is looking for measures to reduce traffic emissions and finance the drive turnaround," says T&E, "a reform of company car taxation for plug-in hybrids would be the logical first step."
However, if hybrids drive with the electric motor switched on, they can still play a positive role and enjoy further benefits themselves. For example, in environmental and diesel no-driving zones or when displaying an E-plate or E-plaque, they get privileges alongside other clean vehicles - such as the use of environmental lanes. After all, they are considered a more environmentally friendly drive type , those behind the wheel would make environmentally conscious decisions and drive them electrically more often.