Residents will be able to receive an aid of €4,500 when buying new electric vehicles and €2,250 if buying second-hand electric vehicles and a new externally charged hybrid vehicles. An additional aid of €1,000 will be available for the scrapping of an existing vehicle. The Environment and Regional Development Ministry is currently discussing it with the European Commission and the aid could be available starting March, said Raimonds Kašs, spokesman for the Climate Change Department of the Ministry.
“When purchasing an electric vehicle, the citizen will have to complete the application and leave it to the trader for assessment, and this company will assess the customer's eligibility as the buyer may not be included in the insolvency register, etc. If a company says everything is good, then a contract can be signed between a resident, a company and the Environmental Investment Fund. We believe that it will be more convenient for people to visit the trader than to turn to the Ministry with each application,” Kašs said.
After purchasing the electric car, the resident must participate in monitoring for approximately five years until 52,000 kilometres is reached.
“This is the period during which we want the citizen to ensure that the vehicle is operated and that this car is not used for economic activity so that it is not sold to another owner. Property rights are publicly available information that we can check and mileage control will have to be submitted to the Environmental Investment Fund electronic system every year. Within a year, it must be around 10 400 kilometres,” Kašs said.
Data from the Road Traffic Safety Directorate (CSDD) show that only 2,174 electric vehicles are currently registered in Latvia. However, data from Latvian Authorised Automobile Dealers Association shows that demand is increasing because last year electricity vehicles were purchased in Latvia by 34% more than a year earlier.
