EV sales in first quarter “practically half total for 2022”
With the sale of electric vehicles accelerating exponentially in Portugal, the government has been strangely on the back foot in terms of creating this year’s package of incentives.
Explains SIC television news, “generally, the government opens candidacies for incentives between February and March. But this year there isn’t even a dispatch from the environment ministry, let alone candidacies opening. The government is late this year…” And no one quite knows why.
In the meantime, the sale of EVs in the first three months of 2023 was equivalent to practically half the total number of sales for the whole of 2022.
According to those in the sector, Portugal ranks 3rd in Europe for the popularity of these electricity run vehicles.
When EVs first appeared on the market (in 2017), government incentives ran to €2 million a year. By last year, that figure had increased to €10 million.
Other ‘top sale countries’ for EVs are Sweden and Norway, while Switzerland has ‘bucked the trend’ by admitting to considering a temporary ban on sales due to fears that the country might not have enough electricity to service them all.
For now, SIC assures the government has said it will be publishing a dispatch on incentives… soon.
