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DF's plans to halt EV tax exemption spark heated reaction

Thursday, 12 August 2010 16:42

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Image: www.freefoto.com

As recently reported in the news on this portal, MEP Morten Messerschmidt of the Danish People's Party (Dansk Folkeparti, DF) has described Denmark's ambitions in electric vehicle (EV) mass transport as 'a fantasy project', and has called for immediate suspension of registration tax exemption for EVs, which the government has recently extended from 2012 to 2015. In Denmark, car registration tax is typically 180% of the sales price. Not surprisingly, DF's proposal has sparked a heated reaction from the Danish EV sector. "That would be an extraordinarily unwise decision," commented the director of the Danish Electric Vehicle Alliance, Lærke Flader, to national daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten. The alliance comprises 47 Danish and international companies who are ready to put billions into making Denmark a leading light in the EV area.

Henrik Isaksen, the managing director of ChoosEV, which offers EV package solutions, agrees. "Customers and companies are basing their investments on EVs being [registration] tax exempt up to including 2015. One cannot pass a law about something and then not implement it," he told Jyllands-Posten. Henrik Bang, managing director of Renault Denmark, which has plans to introduce two EVs in Denmark next year, commented to www.bilpriser.dk that his company finds DF's criticism 'incomprehensible'. DF's proposal to immediately suspend EV tax exemption is one of a number of controversial components in its plan to change the strategic direction of Denmark's energy policy when it comes up for debate with the government in the forthcoming session of parliament.

Source: Denmark.dk, image: Freefoto.com