On Thursday, February 8, 2024, the third call for proposals for the Promotion of Electrification in Cyprus will be presented, Government Spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis announced today.
Specifically, Minister of Transport, Communications, and Works, Mr. Alexis Vafiadis, will present the Promotion of Electrification Plan in Cyprus at a press conference tomorrow, Thursday, February 8, 2024.
The purpose of the plan is to promote the market for zero or low-emission vehicles and the use of alternative modes of transportation, thus achieving a reduction in environmental impacts from transportation, specifically reducing CO2 emissions and air pollutants.
The promotion of electrification falls within the General Policy Framework for the Promotion of the Use of Electric Vehicles of the Ministry of Transport, Communications, and Works and Cyprus’ National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP).
According to the General Policy Framework for the Promotion of the Use of Electric Vehicles, the target is for 25% of new vehicle registrations in 2030 to be purely electric vehicles and for this percentage to increase to 100% by 2035.
Data from the Statistical Service shows an increase in the number of vehicle registrations charged from the electricity grid over the past year. Specifically, electric car registrations in 2023 were 995 compared to 512 in 2022, showing an increase of 94.34%, while the increase compared to 2020 is about 1175%, with 78 electric cars registered in 2020.
In 2023, 273 electric motorcycles were registered compared to 192 in 2022, and 40 electric buses were registered, a category for which there were no registrations in 2022 and 2021 and 1 registration for 2020.
The Government Spokesman stated that the data shows an increase in the use of electric vehicles. Considering that the plan began to be implemented in January 2022, its contribution to the significant increase in purely electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids is evident. However, we are still far from the target set for 2030.
The third call will be implemented for the 2024-25 period, with a budget of €36 million, bringing the total budget of the plan to €53 million. The plan is funded by the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, under Cyprus’ Recovery and Resilience Plan.
It is also important to note that in the third call, the sponsorship amount for categories concerning vulnerable population groups has significantly increased compared to the first and second calls. Specifically, there are special categories for recipients of disabled vehicles and large families, both for the withdrawal of old polluting vehicles and the purchase of new low CO2 emission (up to 50 g/km) vehicles of category M1 (sedans), as well as for sponsorship for the purchase of new zero-emission CO2 vehicles of category M1 (sedans).
For the withdrawal and purchase of low CO2 emission vehicles, the sponsorship amount increases to €15,000 compared to €10,000 (first and second call), while for the purchase of zero-emission CO2 vehicles, the sponsorship amount increases to €20,000 compared to €12,000 (first and second call). These increases apply to both population groups mentioned above.
Additionally, the sponsorship amount for the purchase of a new zero-emission CO2 taxi has increased to €20,000 compared to €15,000 in the previous plan.
Finally, the Government Spokesman stated that with the implementation of the above call, it is expected that further impetus will be given to the penetration of the aforementioned vehicles into the fleet of vehicles circulating in Cyprus, while providing an opportunity for individuals who fall into the above population groups to acquire an environmentally friendly vehicle, which requires low operating costs.
