Car importers want better electric vehicle grants

The Used Vehicles Importers Association and Malta Car Importers Association are demanding better grants for electric car purchases, while eliminating those for internal combustion engine vehicles, in a proposal for Budget 2022.

They said that a cohesive effort from both the government and used vehicle importers was required in order to achieve carbon neutrality targets.

As part of the Low Carbon Development Strategy, the government has pledged that over 65,000 electric vehicles would be introduced by 2030.

The associations are demanding more electric vehicle grants, to commit themselves to expand their electric vehicle imports.

They also asked for the abolition of the government grants for internal combustion engine vehicles, in order to deter the public from pursuing any future purchases of such newly registered vehicles.

Another measure is the installation of charging stations on association members' premises, as an incentive for the purchase of EVs and to prepare an adequate infrastructure for them.

They also proposed a streamlining of the term 'new vehicle' at law: presently, for VAT purposes, the definition includes vehicles which have up to 6,000kms in mileage or have been in use for six months; for grant issuing purposes, it means unregistered cars.

In 2020, the used vehicle market in Malta was significantly greater than the new car market, but when it comes to electric vehicles, 95% were newly registered and 5% were used car imports.

But although the average wage in Malta is below the EU average, the average car price is higher than most EU countries, mostly due to higher importation costs and other logistical factors.

The average car age in Malta is of 14.9 years, according to statistics by the NSO, standing at 3.4% more than the EU average.

READ MORE: Finance Minister Clyde Caruana promised a 'substantial increase' in electric vehicle grants