00:24La idea behind the Swedish electric car premium
00:28is to give a financial helping hand
00:31to people on lower incomes in rural areas like this
00:34where public transport is not an option.
00:37We're here in central Sweden to see how they make it work.
00:46Project manager Olivia Almquist is rather proud
00:49of her new electric vehicle
00:50which replaced an unreliable 30-year-old petrol car.
00:54The mother of two says she's totally reliant
00:57on her car for everyday family life.
00:59We need a car because kindergarten is that way
01:02and work is that way
01:04and the store is that way
01:06so it wouldn't work to use the bus.
01:10The Swedish government's electric car premium
01:13offers Olivia 120 euros a month
01:16towards her 415 euro a month leasing costs over three years.
01:20She did have her doubts about range and charging
01:23but is now a big fan of the low running costs.
01:26I couldn't understand why people bought electric cars
01:30because it just didn't look like it was trustworthy
01:33and now I can't understand why not everyone is buying an electric car.
01:39A key goal of the premium is to counteract high energy costs
01:43by boosting electrification.
01:45Swedes who want to apply for the funding
01:47have to meet certain criteria.
01:49Beneficiaries should earn under 80% of the Swedish average wage
01:53and live in a rural area.
01:55Cars can be new or second-hand, leased or purchased
01:58and should cost between 6,000 and 40,000 euros.
02:03Social worker Daniel Kaldeman chose to buy an electric car
02:06price just below the maximum limit.
02:08He lives far from his office and drives 65,000 kilometers per year
02:13so his fuel savings are high.
02:15Before I paid more than 800 euros every month
02:21putting diesel in the car
02:23and now I pay 150 euros charging this car.
02:27Daniel has five children and had low earnings last year
02:31so he was eligible for the one-off startup bonus of 1,600 euros
02:35as well as the monthly premium of 120 euros.
02:39Although having a zero-emission car is important
02:41he says the financial support clinched the deal.
02:44I like being eco-friendly
02:47and I think about not polluting the environment
02:52so yeah, it was a factor
02:54but I think the main factor was economics for me.
03:02Overall, this premium aims to help over 115,000 households
03:07to move away from expensive fossil fuels.
03:10So where's the money coming from to make this happen?
03:13The majority of the funds are European
03:15with 400 million euros from the EU's social climate fund
03:19going into the 533 million euro Swedish social climate plan
03:23that pays the premiums.
03:25The EU's social climate fund is financed by carbon taxes
03:30raised through Europe's emissions trading system.
03:33Sweden's environmental protection agency
03:36oversees the electric car scheme.
03:38Project manager Elin Hall believes the premium
03:41is hitting its target audience
03:42who mostly buy used electric cars
03:46to replace older petrol or diesel ones.
03:48So we can see that a clear majority
03:51nearly 90% are used vehicles.
03:55The main objective for this
03:57is to make the green transition more fair and equitable
04:01but we can also see that
04:04yes, it does have an impact on the emissions.
04:08It helps reduce emissions.
04:11In a hamlet in the Swedish countryside
04:13we meet father of four Robin Lindberg.
04:15He's well known locally for paying just 10 euros
04:19for his 12-year-old electric car
04:21once the startup bonus and monthly premium
04:24are taken into account.
04:25He sees himself as an electric car convert.
04:45Robin is now building a garage
04:47to help his car survive the winter.
04:50Over 20,000 people have joined him
04:52and applied for the electric car premium
04:54since it launched in March.
