The number of vehicles registered with green number plates in Hungary broke records in March following February’s peak. The significant surge correlates with the launch of a corporate electric vehicle procurement support programme at the beginning of February, as announced by the Ministry of Energy on their Facebook page on Monday.
According to the statement, the number of cars equipped with light green official markings increased by nearly three thousand in March. The growth by 2,920 units significantly surpasses the previous peak of 2,594 units registered in February this year. Similarly, the increase in March in the purely electric category was unprecedented, crossing the two-thousand mark for the first time. The 2,108 newly deployed automobiles represent a substantial advancement compared to the previous month’s record of 1,704 units.
It was highlighted that according to data released by the Ministry of Interior on Monday, there are already more than 93 thousand vehicles with green number plates and over 53 thousand purely electric vehicles on the roads of the country. With this, the total number of green cars has increased more than fivefold since the beginning of 2020. The number of solely electrically powered vehicles exceeded 50 thousand last month.
In addition to promoting clean energy production, the government is incentivizing energy storage with several programmes totalling 200 billion forints. Since early February, businesses have also been able to apply for non-refundable support for the purchase of electric cars, trucks, or minibuses. Under the REPowerEU chapter of the National Recovery Plan, the programme with a budget of 30 billion forints can cover 2.8–4 million forints of the cost of purchasing a vehicle depending on the battery capacity, the ministry noted.
It was revealed that by Monday morning, companies had applied for a total of 11.3 billion forints in support for the purchase of nearly 3,000 electric vehicles, including over 2,200 passenger cars and nearly 700 vans. BYD, Tesla, and Volvo models were the most popular by brand breakdown.
The statement added that in March the first round of applications were evaluated, and the 191 successful applicant companies will be able to add 171 passenger cars and 47 vans to their fleets, making them more environmentally friendly. A targeted credit programme for fleet service providers is also in progress and may be introduced in the near future.
The government has recently launched a new national consultation, this time regarding green energy. Citizens can respond online until mid-April. The questionnaire includes 13 questions regarding government plans to further support the spread of electromobility and related industrial developments.
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Sources: Hungarian Conservative/Ministry of Energy
