“Green” taxis in Greece: Premium program to plug cabs into socket starts

Next Monday, January 9th, the submission of applications for joining the “Green Taxis” action, aimed at promoting electrification in the fleet of taxi vehicles, will begin.

The action meets the strong reservations of the trade union leadership of the taxi industry, which declares that “professional drivers are not negative to the transition to electric mobility, but they are reacting to the haste with which the government is trying to implement it”.

In particular, through the program of the Ministry of the Environment, with a budget of 40 million euros, it is estimated that approximately 2,000 old and polluting taxis will be replaced with new purely electric ones. With the new program, taxi owners are given the possibility of a subsidy for the purchase or leasing of a purely electric vehicle, as well as for acquiring, optionally, the installation of a “smart” recharging point.

The subsidy (ecological bonus) amounts to 40%, with the maximum amount reaching 17,500 euros and the mandatory withdrawal of a taxi vehicle being rewarded with 5,000 euros. Special care is also taken for the disabled, families with three or more dependent children and young people up to 29 years of age, with a separate surcharge for each category.

With applications to be submitted on the online platform https://prasinataxi.gov.gr, which will be operational from January 9, beneficiaries of the program are all owners of taxi vehicles category EUR05 and older, based on the registration permit. Those who own 100% of the vehicle’s registration license are considered owners, while in the case of more than one share holder on the license (co-owners – co-owners), the application is submitted by all the beneficiaries.

What is being subsidized

Each beneficiary is entitled to purchase or lease a pure electric car with zero CO2 emissions (BEV) per license, subject to the withdrawal and destruction of the old vehicle.

The start date of the eligibility of the expenses is 1 December 2021, from which the expenses related to the advance payment for the order of the vehicle are excluded. For pure electric (BEV) taxis the subsidy amounts to 40% of the retail price before taxes, with a maximum amount of 17,500 euros, with mandatory withdrawal rewarded with 5,000 euros. The purchase of an “intelligent” electric vehicle recharging point, for installation in a domestic environment or in a company parking lot with private access, is subsidized with 500 euros. “Through the “Green Taxi” program we are helping 2,000 professional drivers by supporting each of them with 22,500 euros, in order to replace their old vehicle with a new, purely electric one,” noted the Minister of Environment and Energy, Kostas Skrekas.

SATA reacts

The president of the Taxi Drivers Union of Attica (SATA), Thymios Lymberopoulos, speaking to “NEA” yesterday, said that “it is a program, which is implemented with carelessness and great haste, just to show some that Greece is promoting the “green energy” in Transport ahead of the rest of Europe”.

“Professional drivers are not negative to the transition to electric mobility, but they are reacting to the haste with which the government is trying to do it,” says Lymberopoulos, underlining that “while Greece is promoting the mandatory electrification of taxis from the end of 2026 , Germany sets a corresponding transition limit to electrification in 2035!”. The “Green taxis” program, says Thymios Lymberopoulos, concerns only 2,000 taxis in Athens, while 28,000 taxis throughout Greece are left out! “On the other hand, there is no proper charging infrastructure. A taxi can’t work like that. What will I say to the customer who asks me to transfer him from the KTEL bus terminal of Kifissos to Sparta? “Wait an hour for me to charge the vehicle?”, says Lymberopoulos meaningfully, posing additional questions, such as:

• How many and in which taxi stations are there today chargers for charging purely electric taxis?
• How many taxi owners have their own garages to be able to install chargers?

In addition, the president of SATA also refers to the high cost of electric taxis, which as he says “is prohibitive for many owners”. As he explained, an electric taxi currently costs at least 40 to 50 thousand euros, while the subsidy will rise to 22,000 euros. This means that the owner will have to put in another 30,000 euros from his pocket and if he does not have this money he will have to borrow it, with the bank retaining ownership of the taxi. In addition, in 5-6 years, another 15,000 euros will be needed to replace the battery. “We are talking about a lot of money verbs, which does not exist. And this is the main reason why I estimate that there will not be the expected participation in the program of the Ministry of the Environment”, explains the president of SATA and adds: “For the rental vehicle sector, the subsidy reaches 120 million euros, while the mandatory transition to electrification was set for 2030. On the contrary, for taxis the subsidy amounts to only 40 million euros and the limit for the mandatory application of electrification falls in 2026. This says a lot…”.