The Government’s hybrid car aid was approved through Royal Decree 266/2021 in April of this year. Through these grants, each autonomous community, as well as the cities of Ceuta and Melilla, obtain a budget to implement programs that encourage citizens to purchase ecological cars. What are the requirements to apply for these grants? What is the amount that is awarded?
Main aids hybrid cars
The budget released by the Council of Ministers, at the request of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge amounts to 400 million euros, expandable, directly linked to the European Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. These grants, better known as the MOVES III Plan, are intended to encourage electric mobility; that is, to motivate drivers to purchase electric and hybrid vehicles, as well as to build the necessary charging infrastructure for these vehicles. The Government’s objective is that, by 2030, our country will have five million zero-emission vehicles.
What is a hybrid car?
If you are familiar with the MOVES Plan, you will know that this is one of the main hybrid car aids in Spain. Why do these aids exist? One of the missions, not only of the European Union, but globally, is to try to reduce climate change. First with the Kyoto Protocol, then with the 2015 Paris Agreement. The countries’ commitment? Contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, one of the measures taken by the governments of Europe has been the creation of incentives for the purchase of zero emission vehicles.
This is where electric cars and hybrid cars come in. But what is a hybrid car? These are vehicles that combine a heat engine that performs internal combustion with gasoline as fuel; but at the same time with an electric one, which provides the necessary force for the movement to be by electric traction. In other words, this car mixes the best of the old diesel vehicle with the electric vehicle. In the hybrid car, the heat engine propels the machine and recharges the battery when the vehicle is at cruising speed.
MOVES, one of the main hybrid car aids
Characteristics of the MOVES III 2021 Plan
The MOVES III plan is one of the hybrid car aids offered by the Government to individuals, with the aim of encouraging the purchase of vehicles that help preserve the environment. The subsidy granted by the MOVES III plan can amount to up to 7,000 euros (vehicles called tourism) and 9,000 in the case of light cars, not counting the additional discount offered by the different car companies. With these grants, plug-in hybrid cars can receive discounts of up to 5,000 euros. This plan will be in effect until 2023.
The funds are managed by the Autonomous Communities, but if you belong to any of the following groups, you will receive extra help:
- 10% additional aid for municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants
- Additional 10% assistance for people with reduced mobility
- The self-employed, taxis and VTC (transport vehicle with driver) and anyone who uses the vehicle as a work tool, will also receive extra help
Among the characteristics of this plan we find that there is an increase of 2,000 euros in aid (previous editions did not offer that much budget). On the other hand, it is very important that the people who request this help surrender their old vehicle for scrapping; the vehicle to be scrapped must be in circulation for at least three years; This is an essential requirement to be able to apply for this aid.
In this edition, no subsidy will be granted to zero kilometer plug-in hybrid vehicles, as they are the ones self-registered by the dealers themselves. Neither aid is granted for second-hand vehicles, all the cars that are acquired must be new.
MOVES II plan: a resource that was not exhausted
Another of the main hybrid car aid in Spain is the MOVES II Plan, an edition prior to the MOVES III Plan 2021. The second edition of MOVES came into force in 2020, but the resources offered were not exhausted. If you are looking for help to get a hybrid or electric car, you can still opt for this plan. The MOVES II Plan was a considerable modification of the so-called (and now defunct) Plan Renove or Vehicle Boost Plan, whose part of the budget was left unallocated. The Moves II Plan is available throughout the Spanish territory, as the Government announced an increase of 20 million euros for those Communities that did manage to exhaust resources when the plan came into force.
What does the MOVES II Plan offer? This will grant up to 5,500 euros for electric cars as long as a vehicle is scrapped (4,000 euros if the previous vehicle is not provided); plug-in hybrids, meanwhile, will receive a subsidy of 2,600 euros, when the previous vehicle is delivered for scrapping; if not, the aid will be 1,900 euros.
Requirements to apply for the main hybrid car aids
Anyone can opt for any of the hybrid car aids. Certainly the requirements fall on the vehicles to buy, as not all cars are eligible. In the case of hybrid vehicles, this type of plan establishes that the cars must have more than 90 kilometers of approved autonomy; This is a rather difficult requirement, as not all models have this feature.
In these plans, only new vehicles and with a price not exceeding 45,000 euros (without VAT) are eligible. As we already anticipated, second-hand vehicles are excluded, except for those that have been self-registered by the dealers themselves; To make this exception, less than nine months must have elapsed between registration and sale.
In the MOVES II Plan, buyers of hybrid and plug-in hybrid passenger cars who receive an average salary of 21,161 euros and who have been granted aid of 4,000 euros, will only have to pay 1,200 euros. The amount is increased to 1,650 euros if the aid received was 5,500 euros (this amount is obtained if a car is delivered for scrapping). In the case of the MOVES III Plan, the aid will be 5,000 euros with scrapping of the previous vehicle; 2,500 euros if vehicle is not delivered. In the event that the hybrid car has a range that exceeds 90 km, then the subsidy will be comparable to that of electric cars.
Aid by Autonomous Communities
The only way to apply for these grants is by going directly to the official communication pages and channels of each Autonomous Community, as each of them has its own application deadlines and, of course, they all have a different budget. It should be noted that not all of them have published the way they are processed, so you should be aware and consult the official page of each one of them. Within the Autonomous Communities that have already done so, we find the following:
- Andalusia is the community that receives the most budget: 71.3 million euros and requests can be made from September 20, 2021.
- In the Balearic and Canary Islands, aid can be requested from last July; These communities have a budget of 9.8 million and 18.3 million euros, respectively.
- In Castilla-La Mancha, the budget is 21.5 million euros and the subsidy can be requested from last July 15
- In Castilla y León, the budget is 20.1 million euros and the request can be made from September 15
- In the Basque Country they have a budget of 18.7 million euros and applications can be made from September 28
- Madrid has a budget of almost 30 million euros and you can apply for the aid since last July 23.
- In Valencia you can apply for aid from July 29.
- In Galicia the call will be valid from September 13 until January 2, 2024, two days later than the rest of the Autonomous Communities.
