But the rental helps, it doesn’t work miracles. In 2022, registrations of full electric cars in Italy decreased by 25%, compared to an already low 2021, both in rental and in other channels. It’s true that electric cars are expensive, but it’s equally true that by lengthening the loan or rental period, the monthly cost of the car can be leveled off easily. Evidently T&E does not accept that money is not the real reason why many motorists refuse this engine, opting for a hybrid, even plug-in with plug, in order to be sure of being able to refuel in minutes and always walk. Finally, T&E also calls for “the introduction of a registration tax based on the cost of the vehicle and on CO2 emissions”.
The reference to emissions is clear, minus the one to cost. If one thing we have learned about electric cars, it is that they cost more, not less, than thermal ones: +42% in Italy, according to Jato Dynamics, an analysis company, but +45 in France + 51 in the UK. There is something not right, or maybe not. It is European electric cars that cost so much, not Chinese ones. An analysis by Jato reports that the Chinese industry has come up with many models of electric cars that are much cheaper than Western ones.
He gap, has favor of the Chinese, ranges from minus 40% on mid-size cars to minus 60% on large ones. At this point, it all comes back. The registration tax would help import Chinese cars, balancing the hassle and burden of homologation. If the proposed proposals are implemented, T&E estimates that in the period 2023-2030 there would be 600,000 additional registrations of electric cars, or on average 75,000 cars per year more than the current 50,000. Finally, there would be “an improvement in the fiscal balance quantified at 1.1 billion euros”. It is not clear in whose favor, the improvement. If for companies and employees or for taxpayers, ie the Treasury. In conclusion, it would be a mistake to underestimate this initiative. It was T&E, when he realized that motorists didn’t want to know about battery-powered cars, who put forward the idea of banning the sale of thermal cars, which was later accepted by the European Commission.
More recently, realizing that the stop to 2035 could be changed by the next Parliament and the next Commission, they have insisted on bringing that date forward. Now the tax levy for immediate use is indicated, already in 2023 and therefore unlikely, to force the early adoption of the electric motor. The fact is that this organization, which has huge resources, seems to have a lot of influence on the European institutions. But the fact is also that all this transition to the electric car, heralded for years as inevitable, seems to be not at all. It is increasingly common to read about second thoughts and reflections. Calling everything into question doesn’t seem as improbable as some persist in claiming. This T&E initiative is proof of that.