The Swedish government has just proposed a new taxation scheme on light vehicles to go into place on the first of July, 2018. Regular petrol vehicles will receive increased taxation and plug-in vehicles will receive an increased bonus under the new scheme.
The following is a translated segment of the government announcement about the changes: “The government proposes a bonus-malus system for new light vehicles, with effect from 1 July 2018. The main motive is to increase the proportion of environmentally adapted vehicles with lower CO2 emissions. The bonus-malus system here can complement the more generally active fuel taxes and help reduce the transport sector’s oil dependence and climate impact.
“For petrol and diesel vehicles, an increased vehicle tax (malus) will be charged in the first three years of the first tax liability of the vehicle. The carbon dioxide amount is then the sum of 82 kronor per gram of carbon dioxide as the vehicle emits per kilometer, in addition to 95 grams and up to 140 grams, and 107 kronor per gram of carbon dioxide as the vehicle emits per kilometer in excess of 140 grams. From year 4 and beyond, the carbon dioxide amount is 22 kronor per gram of carbon dioxide in addition to 111 grams.”
Sweden-based EV-Volumes reports that the plug-in share in April 2018 in Sweden was already 6.1% of new vehicle registrations, up 85% compared to last year. Here’s more from the announcement before coming back to the topic of market share:
“The five-year exemption from vehicle tax for environmental cars is removed and the super-environment car premium is replaced by a bonus for cars with very low emissions. For cars with zero emissions, the highest bonus is SEK 60,000. The bonus is staged linearly up to a 60 gram emission level where the bonus amounts to SEK 10,000. Furthermore, the requirement is that a bonus may be granted with an amount no more than 25 percent of the car’s new price. Liquified natural gas (LNG) cars receive a bonus of SEK 10,000. Today, these cars are not allowed to take part in the super-environment car premium.”
In case you’re curious, SEK 60,000 is approximately $6,700 and SEK 10,000 is approximately $1,100.
On the malus side of things, the extra tax comes to a few thousand up to several thousand SEK per vehicle, depending on the model. A ballpark of 3,000–7,000 extra SEK (or $300–800) isn’t anything to giggle at, but it’s also not at the same high level as Norway puts on petrol and diesel cars (not to mention threats of banning them). However, the financial bonuses for buying electric vehicles are quite high. Some examples are:
Nissan LEAF (and other fully electric cars) — SEK 60,000 (~$6,700)
BMW i3 REx — SEK 50,000 (~$5,600)
Kia Optima PHEV — SEK 32,500 (~$3,650)
Volvo XC90 T8 — SEK 19,167 (~$2,150)
EV-Volumes expects that the increased bonus, future new attractive model availability, as well as the malus on ICE vehicles will increase the plug-in market share in Sweden to 25% in 2021.
Viktor Irle, EV-Volumes co-founder and market analyst, expects the share in Sweden during 2018 to reach 8% in total across the year, with much higher EV sales in the latter half of the year, of course.
Stay tuned for some positive EV news out of Sweden in the coming years.
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