The biggest stumbling block is EVs co$t €10k more than ice
http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/finland-news/domestic/8918-electric-cars-not-popular-with-finns.html Electric cars not popular with Finns by Meeri Ylä-Tuuhonen – HS, Niina Woolley – HT 09 Jan 2014 [image / Benjamin Suomela http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/images/2014/jan/car.jpg Heikki Suonsivu from Espoo bought his electric car in November. Besides low running costs and eco-friendliness, the car’s low noise level was a deciding factor ] Electric cars have not caught on in Finland with only 151 cars having been registered by the end of last September. “The price is proving the biggest stumbling block. Unlike most other EU countries, Finland has not implemented incentives for buying an electric car,” says Tero Kallio, managing director of the Association of the Finnish Automobile Importers. Kallio says that an electric car costs 10,000 euros more than a petrol car of similar size and power. “We need to have financial incentives for purchasing an electric car if we want them to become more common in Finland.” One country with such incentives is Norway, where 18,000 electric cars have been registered to date and they accounted for 12 per cent of all cars sold in March. “In Norway, there is no car tax or VAT on electric cars. Charging points are also free to use,” Kallio explains. Electric cars have also gained momentum in Estonia. “The car market in Estonia is five times smaller than in Finland and still the number of electric cars sold there is ten times higher,” says Kallio. An 18,000-euro purchase grant serves as an efficient incentive in Estonia, with the state also footing the bill for a charging point at home. The country also has an extensive network of charging points, unlike Finland, where a network is only now being built. However, the network is already adequate in Southern Finland, according to Heikki Suonsivu from Espoo, who bought his first electric car in November after some careful calculations. “I caught the bug after that. Everytime I filled up my old car, it cost me 120 euros. Now that sum lasts me four months.” Suonsivu bought his second-hand car in Spain, where a six-month-old Nissan Leaf set him back 19,500 euros with car tax included. “As the Finnish subsidy system only concerns companies and leasing, we haven’t yet got a used electric car market. In Finland, I would have had to pay around 30,000 euros for a similar car.” Car taxation encourages the use of low-emission cars with the tax for the use of an electric car amounting to 1.5 cents a day per hundred kilometres, while the figure is as high as 5.5 cents for diesel cars. His two-month stint driving an electric car has won Suonsivu over. His petrol car has remained parked in his driveway during this time. Suonsivu says that an electric car comes to its own when driving in town and recommends the car particularly for two-car households. He has calculated that if he drives around 20,000 kilometres a year in his electric car, the costs will not exceed 2,000 euros. [© HELSINGIN SANOMAT, Helsinki Times Oy] For all EVLN posts use: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/template/NamlServlet.jtp?macro=search_page&node=413529&query=evln&sort=date Here are today's archive-only EV posts: EVLN: EV Range in Winter, From a European Perspective EVLN: Tesla Superstations @San Juan Capistrano, CA EVLN: $29k 2014 Leaf EV Pricing EVLN: Cutting-edge Tesla EVs Get AT&T Wireless connectivity + EVLN: $30k Mercedes CLA45 AMG, FWD B-Class EV premiere for 2015 {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-Finnish-driver-loves-his-EV-yet-Finns-have-no-EV-incentives-tp4667461.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
