France’s government is stopping its state-subsidised EV leasing programme for people with low incomes, launched at the beginning of this year. The reason? The programme is too successful.

According to media reports citing statements from the Elysée Palace, a good 50,000 leasing contracts have already been approved under the special low-income conditions since the start of the year. Just one and a half months after the programme was launched, this figure is more than double the 20,000 to 25,000 vehicles initially budgeted for the whole of 2024, which is why the programme will be suspended temporarily and only resumed at the end of 2024 for the year 2025.

As part of the programme, people with an annual income of less than 15,400 euros have been able to lease an electric vehicle for 100 to 150 euros per month since the beginning of 2024. The 100 euros were available for “city vehicles” and the 150 euros for “family vehicles.” Another requirement was that the person travelled at least 8,000 kilometres per year because of work or that their workplace was more than 15 kilometres away.

The government launched the programme to boost demand for electric cars among residents who would otherwise not be able to afford them. Reuters says the initiative could have been launched earlier but only started this year because French car manufacturers “were not ready with enough eligible vehicles.”

France still offers other subsidies that will remain in place. As part of the state environmental bonus buyers of electric cars in France regularly receive a financial incentive of 5,000 to 7,000 euros, regardless of their salary. In both cases, the incentives are linked to the CO2 emissions from the production of the vehicles and batteries. A points system decides which vehicles qualify for the subsidy. It evaluates various environmental criteria, including, for example, the characteristics of the vehicle model itself, its weight, the origin and environmental impact of the materials used, the ecological balance of the assembly plant, and the transport routes to the point of sale. It is virtually impossible for Chinese manufacturers to fulfil the criteria.

As a result, there is not a single electric car made in China on a subsidised list published by the government last December. However, around two-thirds of the electric vehicles on sale in France are eligible, including many models from the Stellantis Group, Renault and German manufacturers. The Tesla Model Y from German production is also eligible for the subsidy.