by Gilles Guillaume
PARIS (Reuters) – Automobile brands marketed in France can from today submit their electric models in the hope of benefiting from the new government ecological bonus, the rules of which will be tightened to take into account the carbon footprint of the entire production cycle.
The dedicated digital platform of Ademe (Ecological Transition Agency) was opened on Tuesday to allow the State agency to calculate an environmental score based on the energy mix of the assembly activity, materials used, the production of the battery and the transport necessary to transport the vehicle.
In about two months, on December 15, the list of the lucky ones will be published.
The new bonus rules, intended to reduce imported CO2, should make it possible to reduce France’s carbon footprint by 800,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year, the government said.
They will also make it possible to favor models produced in France and Europe and should in fact exclude several vehicles imported from China, to prevent the envelope of one billion euros from continuing to benefit a third of models manufactured in Asia, very cutting edge in electrical technology and battery chemistry.
The ecological bonus in France is currently 5,000 euros and, for the most modest households, 7,000 euros.
AUTOMATIC CALCULATION THEN MANUAL CONTROL
Ademe gives each manufacturer the rights to connect to the file submission platform, specially developed for the occasion, and provide for their group or brand the information requested for each engine power and each battery capacity.
“The environmental score is calculated automatically by the platform from the information provided by the manufacturers but a human examination will be necessary to control the values declared based on the supporting documents provided by the manufacturers and also deposited on the platform,” Laurent explained to Reuters Gagnepain, scientific and technical coordinator of the agency.
The subject remains sensitive because, according to figures from the Committee of French Automobile Manufacturers (CCFA), three of the best-selling electric models in France since the start of the year – the Tesla Model Y and Model 3 and the very affordable Dacia Spring – are mostly made in China.
The MG4 from the Chinese group SAIC has gained a place every month since the summer in the top 100 best-selling cars in France.
In an interview with the Journal de l’automobile, the president of the importing manufacturers united within the Csiam, Yves Pasquier-Desvignes, deduced that “the rule of the future bonus will kill the electrification of the French market.”
For those disappointed on December 15, the government will offer the possibility of taking an appeal to demonstrate that they are more virtuous than the average builder in their area. Manufacturers will then have to provide additional information to support their request.
“If there are vehicles produced in Asia which are very light, which are relatively virtuous, perhaps they could remain eligible, we think there are at least a few of them, however it will not be clearly not the majority given the simulations that we were able to do,” said a government source last month during the presentation of the system.
(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume, edited by Kate Entringer)
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