The Green Party: How We Will Ensure Everyone Buys an Electric Car

Everyone must have an electric car in the Green Party’s Sweden—this has long been one of the red-greens’ highest goals, and to achieve it, they want to combine carrot with stick. No matter the cost. At a press briefing on Tuesday, the party revealed its latest plans to get more people to buy electric cars.

Every now and then, new reports surface about problems with electric cars, whose technology appears anything but mature and evolves so quickly that vehicles just a few years old become almost impossible to sell. Most notably, range is an issue, as batteries severely limit how far you can go—especially in winter.

Nevertheless, according to the Green Party, Swedish people will have to own electric cars whether they want to or not, as they announced a new election promise at Tuesday’s press briefing: every household should be able to switch from a fossil fuel car to an electric car.

Since the transportation sector accounts for the largest share of Sweden’s climate emissions, replacing petrol and diesel cars with electric cars is a central part of the climate transition, the party claims.

“The electrification of the transportation sector is crucial if Sweden is to succeed with the climate transition and reduce households’ vulnerability to high petrol and diesel prices. That’s why everyone should be able to afford to switch to an electric car,” says spokesperson Amanda Lind (Green Party).

“The government has removed the electric car bonus and at the same time allocated 57 billion SEK to make petrol and diesel cheaper. The result is that electrification is slowing down for the first time ever in Sweden,” says spokesperson Daniel Helldén (Green Party).

Lind and Helldén refer to Norway and Denmark, where the share of electric cars in new car sales is said to be increasing.

An Economic Security Issue

“The new petrol cars sold today will be on our roads for decades and will make the transition harder and more expensive,” writes the party. They also argue that electrification is a matter of economic security for households, as petrol and diesel prices can quickly be affected by international crises and conflicts—but seem to overlook the even more volatile electricity prices, which they do not want to address since they wish to stop new nuclear power.

With a national electric car initiative, the party wants to make it cheaper to buy, lease, and charge an electric car. The initiative has three parts: broadened leasing premium, a fair electric car bonus across the country, and cheaper electric car charging.

An electric car should be available to lease for about 1,500 SEK per month, and the premium should apply outside major cities and be highest for the cheapest vehicles, up to 60,000 SEK in rural areas. The party also wants to lower the electricity tax for electric car charging and pause the so-called power tariffs.

“With our electric car initiative, nearly four times as many households could receive support to buy or lease an electric car during the next parliamentary term compared to the government’s current policy,” says spokesperson Daniel Helldén.

Press conference: