K&H: Hungary well placed in the regional electric car derby
In Hungary, the share of pure electric cars in the new car market has risen to over 6% in a year, well above the 2.4% share in the Czech Republic and 1.8% in Slovakia. Central Europe is still behind the EU average, where the share of electrically powered cars has risen to over 12% in the last year, the survey notes.
"The uptake of electric vehicles is slowed down by the fact that they are more expensive than conventional cars, but preferential financing schemes somewhat offset the extra costs," says Levente Suba, head of sustainability at K&H.
The sales statistics also show that 32,000 electric and plug-in hybrid cars and light commercial vehicles were on the road in Hungary, out of a total of nearly 4.1 million cars. In other words, the share of electric vehicles was 0.78%, compared to 0.21% and 0.17% in the Czech Republic and Slovakia respectively.
According to Suba, Hungary has made good progress in the field of electric cars. The question is, of course, what lies behind the positive figures. For the moment, we can only speculate: free parking in big cities may be making the purchase of cars with green plates more attractive.
Suba also thinks that the solar panels installed on many family houses generate free electricity for the owners, thus significantly reducing the cost of driving.
"Everyone can do something to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For example, instead of a conventional car, you can buy a hybrid or fully electric car – which has a much smaller environmental footprint than a car with an explosive engine, and although this alone will not save the world, as we know, a little goes a long way," the sustainability expert stresses.
He added that K&H offers companies financing for the leasing of pure electric cars on more favorable terms than the market in order to promote the uptake of pure electric cars. The preferential interest rate slightly offsets the higher price of pure electric cars. Since the launch of K&H Green Car Finance, 221 companies have purchased electric cars through the scheme.
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