With the launch of the 2021 Budget Law, the sales of cars with scrapping of the old vehicle or, without low environmental impact or with zero impact can theoretically rely on an important boost.
With the so-called Ecobonus whose reservations have been managed by dealers through a dedicated platform already since last January 18th, the Government has made available a plafond worth 700 million Euros for Italian citizens.
They concern the cars in M1 category and L1 motorbikes; besides commercial vehicles (N1). The models characterized by Co2 emissions included between zero and 20 grams per kilometre or between 21 and 60 grams per kilometre benefit from 120 millions.
Clearly, the models with fully electrified traction and plug-in hybrid are part of them, and the above-mentioned 120 millions must be summed to the 270 already allocated with other previous legislative measures.
Therefore, the total at stake amounts to 390 millions. Concerning motors with emissions ranging from zero to 20 grams per kilometre, the discount amounts to 6,000 in case of simultaneous scrapping of the old vehicle or, without scrapping, to 4,000 Euros.

For those in 21-60 gram range, the contribution is 2,500 Euros with scrapping and 1,500 without. In both cases the initiative will remain in force for the whole current year, unlike reliefs addressing the range of emissions from 61 to 135 grams per kilometre, taking advantage of a 250 million Euro fund.
In this case the discount is assured only upon old vehicle scraping and reaches 1,500 Euro maximum. Not only. What above listed must be added to the discounts, for a maximum of 2,000 Euros, made by dealers, once more of higher relevance when you opt for the scrapping.

Tradition wins

When we are writing, it seems Italians’ preferences are oriented to conventional motors, anyway undoubtedly less polluting than in the past, which still at the beginning of February had grabbed the biggest number of applications for the access to the Bonus.
In fact, 30% of the allocation made at the beginning of the year was already committed but just 170 were still accessible out of the 250 millions provided for standard diesel engines. On the contrary, only eight million Euros over-all have been required for the purchase of a full electric or of a plug-in, versus 120 potentially payable. Nevertheless, in a year such as 2020, during which according to UNRAE (Unione nazionale rappresentanti autoveicoli esteri) car sales in the Peninsula were affected by an impressive -27%, hybrid and electric models gained ground.

Although the applications for access to 2021 Car Bonus concern only a minimal part of full electrified vehicles, the incentives implemented in the context of the most recent Budget Law are an important signal, which must be however accompanied by initiatives in favour of induced activities.
The first conquered the 16% share in sales, scoring 103% more of registrations. The second achieved +207%, almost tripling the 2019-result with 32,538 cars delivered versus the previous 10,577. The unitary market share, prerogative of hybrid and full-electric so reached 4.3% and on the other hand the electrification trend cannot be stopped, considering the target of a carbon-neutral continent by 2050 established by the EU with the Paris agreement. Therefore, if Italy is, slowly, electrifying, now it is the time of electrifying the made in Italy.
In other words, of creating those surrounding conditions in virtue of which enterprises in automotive induced activities and other beginners coming from other sectors might decide to invest in e-mobility profitably.

A modest proposal

Studies carried out in the United States and here reported by Il Sole 24 Ore have calculated that the first 29 original equipment manufacturers (OEM) in the Country are planning to invest at least 300 billion dollars in the next decade in the electric vehicle development. In Italy, in recent times the research and information association Motus-E has taken care of making the new mobility generate opportunities n cascade for the largest possible number of players. Among its supporting and ordinary members it can boast, just to mention some of them, Stellantis and Renault, Tesla and Edison, Bitron, ABB and Enel. It has recently published and presented a series of proposals on the reallocation of a part of the funds provided for by National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Piano nazionale di ripresa e resilienza -PNRR) in the ambit of Next Generation EU.
In this specific case, not only the hypothesis that 18.7 billions of the Plan’s heritage support «the development of an increasingly sustainable mobility of people and goods» arouses interest but rather, instead, the areas where to invest them. First of all, the document The great opportunity for zero emission mobility suggests allocating 10.93 billions to the demand boost by 2026; 3.27 billions to infrastructures and 4.51 billions to the offer. In the latter segment rank the numerous Italian excellences in the mechanical and electronic components, maybe already integral part of the supply chain of zero impact motors and with a good ranking in world markets.

WHAT’IS GOING ON IN EUROPE?
The common target estabished by Paris agreements in 2015 is giving  birth to a carbon-neutral continent by the half of the century but inside and
in the neighbouring periphery of the European Union the different nations are autonomously choosing the most suitable strategies and courses to hit it. Concerning mobility, the information service specialized in business fleets fleeteurope.com has provided an overview of the mechanisms of incentive for green vehicles and of disincentives for polluting engines in force in various Countries, by order of efficacy. North Europe States have adopted the most efficacious measures in favour of the e-mobility, starting from Norway where EV are free from registration and VAT costs and enjoy insurance reliefs. Sweden follows with its bonus-malus scheme and tax reliefs for electric; then Denmark, where conventional engines are subjected to tax increases. Not fortuitously Norway is the first State where the sales of zero impact cars have exceeded 50% of the total, but also United Kingdom’s plans are ambitious, as the electric share jumped from 3 to 10% from 2019 ti 2020 and Ev are expected to surpass diesel in 2021. Germany foresees that 15% of car sales in 2021 are apanage of EV but until now temporary jeopardized measures to favour the sector resulted in just about 250,000 full electric models out of around 48 million vehicles overall at the end of last year.
Tax exemption mechanisms are in force in France, Austria, Portugal and Belgium (zeroed taxes also for the hybrid with the lowest emission levels) and Spain, where however the measures in course differ from region to region. In The Netherlands the owners of electric four-wheels have not to pay any circulation tax whereas the Republic of Ireland mirrors the Danish example, with increased taxes for polluting vehicles and reliefs for more ecologic ones.

Supply chain wanted

70% of the components manufactured in Italy are sold beyond the border. Be- sides, as the general secretary of Motus-E, Dino Marcozzi wrote, «if on one hand we are still late in the race to the production of automotive cells on the national territory, market developments make room for the production of the cells diffused today, such as NMC 811, and provide an unrepeatable opportunity for the R&D system and the production of new chemicals, involving a chemical field currently featuring excellent level». Moreover: «The industry of internal distribution components and ICE pumping must match the reconversion for the production of new auxiliary systems of traction systems, especially of the battery pack, integrated with the ones for the passenger compartment.
Our enterprises’ competences in circular economy are significant: Battery Directive EU issues challenging targets of reuse and recycling and Italy would have the skills and the resources to exploit this opportunity». Neither, in the opinion of Marcozzi, former Chief procurement officer of Enel Green Energy, the «native digital» nature of electric cars can be neglected. The software development of vehicles will be a decisive range of action for both component manufacturers and suppliers, which will be enabled to work on open solutions and offer even hardly conceivable services at present. Electric vehicles are real digital platforms» rich in potentialities: «Software packages for the improvement of performances, predictive and remote maintenances, integration with MaaS (Machine as a Service) applications, machine learning for autonomous driving» are only some of the currently feasible courses.
(by Roberto Carminati)