There are news about (new) support to buy electric car: Who gets it?

O new support for the purchase of electric vehicles by the most deprived families will have a contribution between 70% and 90% of the value of the car up to a maximum of 15 thousand euros, announced Environment Minister Maria da Graça Carvalho.

At a meeting with journalists on Monday, in the context of the parliamentary debate on the proposal for a State Budget for 2027 (OE2027), the governor said that the value of the contribution can be increased by 1000 euros if a vehicle used for slaughter is delivered.

Also under study is the granting of funding for the acquisition of electric charging stations.

The programme, to be launched in early 2027, will accept applications for the purchase of electric vehicles up to eur 37,500, new or used for less than five years – as long as they are necessarily purchased from a dealer.

Vehicles acquired with this support cannot be sold before three years.

Funded by funds from the Social Plan for the Climate, the programme will have an estimated €104.5 million for the acquisition of around 5,500 vehicles, a target that could grow by over a thousand units during the negotiations still taking place in Brussels.

Who is the support for?

For use in households with a social electricity tariff and households with incomes below 80% of the national average income, i.e. up to eur 11,572 per yearhowever, priority will be given to the first.

In total, will be eligible 1.5 million households, twice the current beneficiaries of the social electricity tariff, which are in number about 750 thousand.

The programme will work through vouchers intended to be exchanged with suppliers (in this case, car dealers), like what already happens in programs such as e-home.

According to Environment Minister, more than 20% of vulnerable families in Portugal have their own car. Of these, 24% live in the interior and 23% in the outskirts of large cities, making it necessary to cut “ diesel dependence” and accelerate decarbonization.

Graça Carvalho also said that the government will support, with 228 million euros, around 9,000 micro-enterprises (with turnover of up to two million euros and less than 10 workers) in the purchase of 13,700 electric vehicles, and companies may apply for one or two cars. In this case, the contribution will be up to 100% (excluding VAT).

The co-financing of EUR 125.5 million of the purchase of 700 electric buses to low-density territories, for example, for the mobility of workers and the student population and for the transport of patients in these territories, is also planned.

In total, the government will support the acquisition of more than 21,500 electric vehicles.

In the industry, Graça Carvalho highlighted a new program to decarbonize the sectors of high consumption of natural gas, such as ceramics, cement and glass.

In June, the government opened a new €10 million tender to support the purchase of electric vehicles by the general population, which ran out in a few hours.