Finland plans to boost electric bicycle sales with €400-incentive

Finland plans to incentivise e-bikes on a large scale: The Ministry of Transport and Communications reports on a government proposal to dedicate €16.3 M of funding for the period July 2018 – December 2021 to support e-bike purchases. This sum offers purchasing power for over 40,600 e-bikes, a massive investment in a cycling future. Incentivising e-bikes is part of Finland’s action plan for the promotion of walking and cycling. The plan is a response to the governmental objective of increasing the modal share of active mobility forms to the level of 30% of all trips nationwide by 2030. The logic behind such a large scale investment in incentivising e-bike purchase is that electric bicycles are able to lengthen journeys made by bicycle and are thus reaching out to more journeys that are otherwise generally restricted to cars due to the distance to cover.

Government plans for the e-bike subsidy have not been supported by all groups. Economists from the Mortgage Society of Finland point out that subsidies on such a grand scale may not be the best solution to achieve the aim of increasing e-mobility and cycling objectives. Due to the size of the plans, these subsidies could create major confusion on the bicycle sales market, to the disadvantage of regular bicycle sales. Offering the incentive of €400 per e-bike purchase, combined with the fact that e-bike prices currently start below €400 could significantly skew the market.

Grants for the purchase of the e-bikes are planned to be given by the Finnish Transport Safety Agency and once implemented, could include e-bikes purchased from 1st of April, retrospectively.

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Story first published by Helsinki Times on 20th of March 2018.