Support for climate killers?
Plug-in hybrids in Germany are still subsidised, even though they harm the climate more than combustion engines. Even a new regulation starting next year is no solution for many climate protectionists.
From 1 January 2022, hybrids that can only cover 40 km in pure electric mode will no longer be financially supported. From then on, they will have to cover at least 60 km. Three years later, from 2025, it will be 80 km. In addition to these subsidies, there is another decisive advantage to the purchase of hybrids. For commercial leasing, the private journeys per month only have to be taxed at half a percent of the vehicle's list price instead of a full percent.
This does not seem to be conducive to the goal of producing fewer greenhouse gases, because the important thing is to finance more vehicles that emit less CO2 and not those that could emit less CO2. It does not matter whether the pollutant is produced when burning fuel (diesel, petrol) or for the production of fuel (electric). At the moment, ecologically generated electricity is not sufficient for the electrification of transport and fossil energies are needed to supplement it. This will not change in the next few years, because the increasing demand for electricity cannot be met from renewable energy sources alone. More e-cars therefore automatically mean that more fossil sources will be tapped.
In addition, many plug-in hybrids are large SUVs that also need heavier batteries to get off the ground. The weight of the vehicle significantly increases tyre wear and thus air pollution. And so it is not uncommon for the hybrid car in electric mode to emit more pollutants than a normal combustion car simply because of its weight.
Petrol cars, on the other hand, even if they produce less CO2, are not promoted. For example, a hybrid Golf GTE receives financial support even though it produces more CO2 than the same model as a combustion engine. Moreover, it is not checked whether the electric drive is used at all.
One way out would be an honest analysis of how much CO2 emissions are actually released, both in production and in the release (burning) of energy. These figures would then have to serve as a basis for judging which vehicles are actually promoted, which have to be classified as climate killers and which sticker is required to enter an environmental zone.