The Dutch city of Rotterdam is offering incentives to scrap older vehicles, which will help the latest zero-emission vehicles sell for a fraction of their original cost.
According to Nissan, for its newly-launched e-NV200 electric van, that means a price tag of under €5,000 for business buyers – less than 25 per cent of its original retail price.
Likewise its €24,110 LEAF electric hatchback is reduced to just €7,450 plus a monthly battery rental charge.
A series of incentives and subsidies for the lowest emission vehicles means that prices are being slashed for businesses in the city. Rotterdam is now offering a €2,500 scrappage incentive to try and remove old, higher emission vehicles off the streets, effectively subsidising the purchase of newer, cleaner vehicles.
Coupled with exempt to registration fee and road taxes, and other perks including free parking in the city centre and a grant worth up to €1,450 for the installation of home chargers, electric vehicles are becoming a very affordable alternative to running high emission, older vehicles in the Netherlands.
"By scrapping older vehicles and incentivising buyers to replace them with zero-emission electric vehicles, Rotterdam is taking a huge step in improving air quality. Vehicles like Nissan e-NV200 and Nissan LEAF are ideal for city-based fleets as well as for private motorists who want to make a difference to the quality of life in their home town," said Jordi Vila, Managing Director Nissan Netherlands.
The Rotterdam initiative is just one of a number of schemes in the Netherlands designed to promote zero-emission mobility. In Amsterdam, for example, electric vehicle incentives bring the cost of an e-NV200 Visia Flex down to just €5,650.
A nationwide EV support scheme sees an automatic €3,000 taken from the list price of an electric van or taxi and this is then supplemented by local municipal EV subsidies of up to €7,000.
But to take advantage of the huge discounts, buyers need to hurry. Rotterdam's scrappage subsidy is only available to the first 5,000 applicants and orders need to have been placed before December with deliveries by the end of the year.
By Faye Sunderland, The Green Car Website