France Now Offering €200 State Subsidy For Electric Bicycles

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

The government of France is now offering a state subsidy of €200 to buyers of certain electrically powered bicycles, according to recent reports. This state subsidy will be on the table until January 31, 2018, reportedly — though, keep an eye out for a possible extension.

The announcement of the subsidy was by decree on a website of the French government, following earlier promises by the country’s Minister of Environment, Segolene Royal.

Importantly, it should be noted here that the new state subsidy doesn’t apply to electric bikes relying on lead-acid batteries — the electric bikes must be “modernized.”

Also noteworthy is that buyers aren’t allowed to re-sell their bikes within a year from the purchase to qualify.

Cycling Industry provides more:

“Entitling citizens to one such purchase, the scheme is designed to bring about a spike in alternative transport use. At present, under 2% of the French population travel to work by bike, though this varies region-to-region. …

“Meanwhile in the Nordic region, Norwegian capital Oslo has gone one step further, allowing a €1,200 credit on electric cargo bike purchases.”

Of course, Norway is a country of only around 5–6 million people, and one that has access to some of the most substantial proven oil reserves in the world right now, so it perhaps has the ability to offer incentives that few other regional countries can. Things also tend to be more expensive in the country than in France, so that’s probably part of the reason for the higher incentives as well.

While we’re on the subject, it’s clear that Norway’s substantial electric vehicle incentives are paying off, as around 37% of all new car sales in the country last month were of plug-in electrics.

Image of Wave Electric Bike


Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.

Latest CleanTechnica TV Video


Advertisement
 
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.

James Ayre

James Ayre's background is predominantly in geopolitics and history, but he has an obsessive interest in pretty much everything. After an early life spent in the Imperial Free City of Dortmund, James followed the river Ruhr to Cofbuokheim, where he attended the University of Astnide. And where he also briefly considered entering the coal mining business. He currently writes for a living, on a broad variety of subjects, ranging from science, to politics, to military history, to renewable energy.

James Ayre has 4830 posts and counting. See all posts by James Ayre