Italy wants 1 million electric cars by 2022

Italy is one of the EU's worst performing member states as far as electrification is concerned. That is to change under the nation's new government: it wants to make Italy the number one EV country by getting 1 million electric cars on the road by 2022, thereby taking the electric crown from Norway.

It is estimated that to achieve this goal, an incentivation programme of roughly €8.5 billion is needed. That alone makes the target unrealistic according to some. Italians bought some 2,600 full-electric cars in 2017, out of a total of about 2 million vehicles. In total, there are some 5,000 EVs in the Southern European republic today.

"If you want 1 million electric cars on Italian roads in the next five years, the only option is huge tax benefits like Norway's," said Promotor research institute head Gian Primo Quagliano (source: Autonews.com). "The government would be looking at incentives of about €8,500 a car, like France," he said. Even at that level - roughly €8.5 billion - "it still remains almost impossible to get there so quickly."  

Picture copyright: TechVehi.com, 2018