Limiting number of petrol stations could boost use of electric vehicles, expert suggests

Issuing no more permits for petrol stations while incentivising the installation of electric charging points in car parks and public spaces could lead to a greater uptake of electric and hybrid vehicle use in Malta, a leading proponent of EV use told MaltaToday.

“The government’s decision to completely remove registration tax on the importation of electric and hybrid vehicles should also help entice used car dealers to start importing affordable second-hand cars from abroad,” he said.

Neville Zammit, who holds an MSc in Environmental Economics and is the administrator of the Facebook group Electric Vehicles Malta, said that the new budget measure will mean a reduction of €2,000 to €3,000 on the purchase cost of a new vehicle.

“However, passing on this benefit to the consumer is still at the discretion of the car importers,” he said.

In fact, unlike the €8,000 grant already in place and offered by the government to whoever purchases any electric or hybrid vehicle, the new measure – announced in the budget speech for 2018 – does not make it obligatory for importers and dealers to pass on the savings to the purchaser. 

The prices of the most common electric or hybrid vehicles sold on the local market today start from €7,500 for Twizy, a snazzy quadricycle by Renault, to €32,000 for Toyota’s Prius, a non-plug-in hybrid that was launched more than 10 years ago.

Zammit said that the new measure notwithstanding, electric and hybrid vehicles are still more expensive than their diesel or petrol counterparts and might still be too expensive for many buyers.

“When you factor in the home charger installation, the change in lifestyle required to accommodate occasional charging and other considerations, it may still not make sense for much of the population,” he said. 

“However this is changing rapidly with the improvement of battery technology, the spreading of infrastructure and of course the fall in prices.”

As to whether Malta’s infrastructure is geared up for a greater uptake of electric vehicles, Zammit was more optimistic.

“Such a modal shift does not happen overnight. Were we ever ready to switch from horse drawn carriages to cars?” he said. “Slowly but surely we will be getting there and the government is committed to increasing the number of charging stations from today’s 100 to around 400 in two years.”

With Malta now set to discuss a cut-off date for the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles, as many EU and western countries are doing, as well as car manufacturers themselves, more will need to be done to entice Maltese drivers to switch to electric.

As things stand, the uptake so far is hardly anything to call home about. Of the 287,422 passenger vehicles on Maltese roads at the end of June this year, a mere 1,064 were electric or hybrid vehicles, amounting to just 0.37%.

And that’s considering only passenger vehicles. If one were to also take into consideration goods-carrying vehicles, special-purpose vehicles, agricultural vehicles, buses, minibuses, coaches and road tractors, that percentage would fall to 0.3%.

Zammit acknowledged that, in the past few years, the government had done a lot to financially encourage the uptake of EVs in Malta. He said that the latest measure announced in the budget boosted government incentives to over €10,000, making Malta’s grants one of the highest in the world and on par with those offered in some states in the US and cities in Scandinavia.

“What can be done better is to stop issuing permits for new petrol stations, and heavily incentivising car parks, work places and supermarkets to offer free charging stations,” Zammit said. “Businesses can already benefit from a €2,000 grant when installing such parking spots, what it needs is maybe better marketing.”