Ireland has come out as the best performer for company cars in a survey of Europe's electric car incentives and tax regimes, carried out by influential eco-think-tank Transport & Environment.
Best overall balance of supports
In fact, we've been praised for having one of the best overall balance of supports for EVs and taxation penalties for small internal combustion engined cars in both company and private purchases. T&E reckons this combo - incentives for small electric cars and tax weighting on small petrol and diesel models - produces the best overall outcome.
According to T&E's research, Ireland's 'net difference' when it comes to private cars - the combination of the two figures - stands at just over €12,000 in favour of buying an EV. Malta's figure, by comparison, is almost €19,000.
The worst-performing country is Bulgaria, whose net difference figure is less than €1,000 in favour of buying an EV. T&E has been routinely critical of eastern European car markets for not doing enough to support EV purchases and ownerships, but larger, more mature car markets don't escape lightly here either.
Bigger markets criticised
France, for example, which is generally considered a leader in EV subsidies and encouragement, actually comes out with a net difference figure of less than €10,000. The UK is even worse, struggling to break the €5,000 barrier.
According to T&E: "The range of tax differentials are explained by good and bad practices of taxation. Ten countries do not have a car tax, i.e. acquisition or ownership, on CO2 emissions. These include Poland, Czechia and Estonia. Nine countries - including Germany, Switzerland and Romania - do not have an acquisition tax despite its influence on new purchases, and four countries do not have an ownership tax. These include the suspected laggards, Poland and Czechia.
"On the other hand, purchase grants for low and zero-emission vehicles have helped accelerate the uptake of BEVs in Europe, and are found in 23 of the 31 countries. Malta has the highest purchase grant in Europe for zero-emission vehicles - €11,000 - and Romania has the second highest - €10,200. France, Italy, and Romania are the only countries which still have purchase grants for conventional ICE vehicles."
Griffin Carpenter, the company cars analyst at T&E, said: "In the midst of a climate and energy crisis, taxpayers across Europe are effectively subsidising the pollution of cars. Too many countries suffer from outdated systems, absence of taxes and lack of incentivisation for zero-emission transition. Let's turn this around quickly, help households buy EVs and clean our air, all at once."
Ireland top for company car incentives
The table shuffles around a bit when you look at company car incentives, and here Ireland is the leading performer, with a net difference of just over €15,000 in favour of buying an EV, thanks mostly to the enormous tax burden placed on buying a small petrol-engined car. Only Norway, Denmark, Finland, and The Netherlands rate higher than Ireland in this comparison. The worst-performing country regarding company car EV incentives is Cyprus, which has a balance still tilted towards combustion company cars.
"Company cars pollute more because they are driven more. But governments are hampering the transition to clean fleets by continuing to offer low tax regimes for polluting cars. Changing the incentives for corporate BEVs is the low-hanging fruit of car taxation and the decarbonisation of the whole fleet", concluded Griffin Carpenter.