Authorities were flooded with nearly 4,000 applications under the €30 mln incentive scheme to encourage motorists to go electric, said the Transport Ministry.
The scheme’s second phase ended on Thursday oversubscribed, with Transport ministry officials receiving over 3,859 applications before the deadline.
Interested parties had until 9 March, 11 am, to submit their application.
The second phase of the incentive scheme launched with a €10 mln budget offering 2,518 grants.
In comments to news site Stockwatch, road transport department official Evangelos Panteli said that the authority had been overwhelmed with applications since going live on 10 January.
“In the first 24 hours, we received 797 applications, increasing to 1,737 a week later,” said Panteli.
The grants start at €10,000 for new electric vehicles, while the funding for scrapping old cars is €7,500, with a total budget of €10.16 mln.
The grant for a used electric car is set at €5,000.
Under the scrappage scheme, the applicant should replace their car with a hybrid or a car with low CO2 emissions (up to 50 gr per km).
In addition, the vehicle must be at least 12 years old.
Someone with an older car could opt to withdraw it in exchange for €500 and bus rides worth €250.
According to Panteli, some 1,702 applications for purchasing a new electric vehicle were submitted, but only 500 will be approved.
Some 420 applications were submitted for purchasing a new vehicle with low CO2 emissions, combined with the withdrawal of a vehicle older than 12 years, of which 260 will be approved.
The grant for this category is €7,500.
Panteli said the ministry is preparing for another round of subsidies in the second half of 2023, for which details will be announced later.
There was less interest in the remaining categories, with only six applications submitted for replacing an older vehicle with a greener one designed for people with disabilities.
Only ten applications for electric vehicles for people with disabilities and eight for electric cars for large families.
No interest was recorded in replacing an older taxi with a low-emission one.
The Transport Ministry will conduct a draw to allocate the winning subsidies.
