The Minister of Environment and Energy, Kostis Hatzidakis, spoke extensively about the grant program for the purchase of electric vehicles while speaking on ANT1's "Morning Types" show.
He stressed that the subsidy by the state is reduced on average by about 25%, compared to their current price.
"We are not going to finance the purchase of an electric car, but mainly scooters and electric bicycles, as the proportional subsidy rates, at their price, are 15%, 20% and 40%, respectively," he said.
Regarding electric car chargers, the Minister of Environment said that there are commitments from the concessionaires to cover all national roads, while there will be coverage in ports and other key points. Municipalities must by March 2021 to have taken the initiative and car importers have pledged to develop 1,200 electric car chargers in various parts of the country.
At the same time, Hatzidakis noted that there is provision for similar facilities in the new buildings, as well as simplification of the procedures for placing charging points in existing buildings.
Regarding old imported used cars, ie Euro 1, Euro 2 and Euro 3 cars, Hatzidakis said that their import is prohibited, while if someone buys a vehicle over 12 years old (Euro 4), to bring it to Greece will incur an environmental fee of 4,000 euros.
In 2019, Greece had just 115 charging points, of which only 6 had fast chargers. In comparison the Netherlands had 83,196 charging points, Germany 37,405 and France 34,558.
The Netherlands also have the highest number of charging points per 1,000 inhabitants (4.8) followed by Norway (4.5) and Luxembourg (1.9).
Among the 22 European countries studied by LeasePlan, Greece is deemed second to last in its readiness to use electric cars, slightly ahead of only Poland.
With this new initiative, Greece is likely to improve its ranking dramatically as it continues to move towards Green Energy that is yet to be fully tapped into, especially as Greece has huge solar, hydro and wind energy potential.
