Grants are another important means of promoting electric vehicle consumption. In May 2020, France launched an EUR 8 billion “Automotive Industry Revitalization Plan” (in French, Plan de relance pour l’industrie automobile)， which encompasses state aid for electric vehicle consumption, production, and the deployment of charging infrastructure.[62] In the area of electric vehicle consumption, the state aid takes the form of ecological subsidies for car buyers or trade-in bonuses for consumers purchasing electric or hybrid vehicles to replace diesel or gasoline cars.[63] At the local level, since 2019, 131 cities in the Paris metropolitan area have provided varying amounts of state aid to support the purchase of electric vehicles.[64] In May 2016, Germany introduced the “Government Programme for Electric Mobility” plan, providing EUR 1.2 billion in environmental bonus for the purchase of fully electric cars and plug-in hybrid vehicles, and EUR 300 million for the expansion of charging infrastructure. The environmental bonus is equally funded by the federal government and the automotive industry, with half of the subsidies given to manufacturers to reduce the car price and the other half to consumers as grants.[65] Germany provided an additional EUR 2.2 billion in environmental bonus for the purchase of electric cars and plug-in hybrid vehicles between 2020 and 2021, and invested EUR 1.2 billion in electric buses.[66]
