The reason why Tesla was not initially included in the scheme was due to the trail price of the U.S. company’s vehicles. According to Tesla, the company states they were deliberately left out of the program as a cap on vehicles was put in place with a starting price of under 60,000 euros. This price cap was negotiated by the government and the German automobile industry. Tesla claim that German vehicle manufacturers did so so that Tesla cars would be unable to compete on a level playing field.
Due to the 2017 deal, Tesla unbundled a range of standard features as an option with its Model S so that the base price could be reduced to a level under 60,000 euros, before tax. The Tesla Model S is a full-sized all-electric five-door, luxury liftback, produced by Tesla, Inc., and introduced on June 22, 2012. The vehicle scored a perfect 5.0 NHTSA automobile safety rating.
One reason for both Tesla and the German authorities reaching a deal was due to many German citizens purchasing Tesla cars and attempting to claim the subsidy. The agency responsible for issuing the subsidy reportedly received about 1,275 applications for subsidies of Tesla purchases.
The German Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Controls has now evaluated the modified Model S and has agreed that it can now fall under the scheme, making it more attractive to German car buyers. Under the subsidy scheme, buyers get 4,000 euros off their all-electric vehicle purchase and 3,000 euros off plug-in hybrids.
In November 2013 the first Tesla Supercharger stations were opened between Munich and Stuttgart, Munich and Zurich, Switzerland, and Cologne and Frankfurt. A total of 1,474 Model S cars were registered in Germany in 2016, prior to the electric vehicle adoption program price cap.
Germany has been pioneering the adoption of electric vehicles for the past few years. Government incentives, under the “Nationale Plattform Elektromobilität”, for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles take the form of financial incentives designed to make plug-in electric vehicle vehicles attractive to consumers. The scheme had an opening budget of 1 billion euros, and it is made up of tax exemptions and tax credits, plus additional perks including access to bus lines to waivers on fees (such as charging, parking, and tolls roads.)
