The Swedish government is currently trying to get more petrol and diesel cars off the roads with an increased scrap premium. But the support is a huge flop – only 0.6 percent of the money has been used.
In Sweden, interest in receiving subsidies for the purchase of electric cars is vanishingly small. At least in the form of higher scrap premiums.
An increased scrappage premium, where car owners can get 10,000 Swedish kroner to scrap their old car and buy or lease an electric car, has proven to be nothing short of a failure.
Only 0.6 percent of the money that has been set aside for the scheme has been used. This corresponds to 140 Swedes choosing to scrap a petrol or diesel car.
That's what We Bilägare writes.
The reason for the lack of interest must be found in the Swedish government's decision to remove a previous subsidy scheme that gave up to DKK 70,000 in government subsidies for the purchase of electric cars.
The decision was made in connection with the finance law negotiations in 2023, where the government was clearly concerned about the state's economy. To patch up some gaps, the tax support for electric cars disappeared. The same thing happened in Germany. Read more about it here .
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In both countries, one thing in particular happened – sales of new electric cars fell significantly. Especially in Germany, a decline in sales of more than 50 percent was already noted in January 2024. Since then, the country's government has promised to reintroduce parts of the support scheme.T
Back in Sweden, the government tried this summer to stimulate the sale of electric cars with the higher scrap premium, which otherwise corresponds to just over 6,500 Danish kroner.
But the scheme has not had the desired effect. Several experts now argue that the support must be increased significantly to have a real impact on electric car sales.
A possible solution, which is being discussed in Sweden, is to introduce a model with extra subsidies for low-income families who choose to buy an electric car. Similar schemes already exist in other EU countries, and Sweden is considering implementing such a scheme from 2026.
The Swedish government's attempt to balance economic considerations with the desire to promote electric car sales has proven to be a challenge. It is now uncertain what further measures will be taken to increase the share of electric cars on Swedish roads.
