COPENHAGEN: Electric vehicle (EV) sales in Denmark have fallen by 60.5% year-on-year, following a government promise to eliminate related tax breaks.
The dramatic shift from the first quarter of last year compared to the first quarter of 2017 contrasts with other EU member states, where EV registrations and sales have continued to rise.
Denmark was previously one of the world’s leaders in the adoption of EVs, when the clean cars were spared the 180% import tax charged on vehicles with internal combustion engines.
The government originally intended on phasing out all EV tax breaks by 2020 but has now altered its plans and will postpone until a minimum of 5,000 EVs are sold over the 2016-2018 period.
However, it says the tax breaks will still be slowly eliminated from 2019.
Danish Tax Minister, Karsten Lauritzen, said: “It’s no secret electrical vehicle sales have been below what we expected a year and a half ago. The agreed phase-in has turned out to be hard and that likely halted sales.”
