00:03A new scheme in Sweden offers drivers in rural areas financial support to go green by switching
00:09to an electric car. I've applied for the premium. It really helped me in buying this car. It has
00:15been a very nice change in our lives to save that much money. The best thing is that it doesn't
00:22sound
00:22and that it's too quick. The idea behind the Swedish electric car premium is to give a
00:29financial helping hand to people on lower incomes in rural areas like this where public
00:35transport is not an option. We're here in central Sweden to see how they make it work.
00:46Project manager Olivia Almquist is rather proud of her new electric vehicle which replaced an
00:52unreliable 30-year-old petrol car. The mother of two says she's totally reliant on her car for
00:58everyday family life. We need a car because kindergarten is that way and work is that
01:03way and the store is that way so it wouldn't work to use the bus. The Swedish government's
01:12electric car premium offers Olivia 120 euros a month towards her 415 euro a month leasing
01:19costs over three years. She did have her doubts about range and charging but is now a big fan
01:25of the low running costs. I couldn't understand why people bought electric cars because it
01:31just didn't look like it was trustworthy and now I can't understand why not everyone is buying
01:38an electric car. The key goal of the premium is to counteract high energy costs by boosting
01:44electrification. Swedes who want to apply for the funding have to meet certain criteria. Beneficiaries
01:50should earn under 80% of the Swedish average wage and live in a rural area. Cars can be
01:56new or second hand, leased or purchased and should cost between 6,000 and 40,000 euros. Social worker
02:04Daniel Kalderman chose to buy an electric car priced just below the maximum limit. He lives
02:09far from his office and drives 65,000 kilometers per year so his fuel savings are high. Before I
02:17paid more than 800 euros every month putting diesel in the car and now I pay 150 euros charging this
02:27car. Daniel has five children and had low earnings last year so he was eligible for the one-off startup
02:33bonus of 1600 euros as well as the monthly premium of 120 euros. Although having a zero emission car is
02:41important he says the financial support clinched the deal. I like being eco-friendly and I think about
02:50not polluting the environment so yeah it was a factor but I think that the main factor was economics for
02:58me.
03:02Overall this premium aims to help over 115,000 households to move away from expensive fossil fuels. So
03:10where's the money coming from to make this happen? The majority of the funds are European with 400
03:16million euros from the EU's social climate fund going into the 533 million euro Swedish social
03:23climate plan that pays the premiums. The EU's social climate fund is financed by carbon taxes raised
03:30through Europe's emissions trading system. Sweden's environmental protection agency oversees the electric
03:37electric car scheme. Project manager Elin Hall believes the premium is hitting its target audience
03:42who mostly buy used electric cars to replace older petrol or diesel ones. So we can see that a clear
03:51majority
03:51nearly 90 percent are used vehicles. The main objective for this is to make the green transition more fair and
04:01equitable. But we can also see that yes it does have an impact on the emissions. It helps reduce emissions.
04:11In a hamlet in the Swedish countryside we meet father of four Robin Lindberg. He's well known locally for
04:17paying just 10 euros for his 12 year old electric car once the startup bonus and monthly premium are taken
04:24into account. He sees himself as an electric car convert.
04:44Robin is now building a garage to help his car survive the winter.
04:49Robin Lindberg. Over 20,000 people have joined him and applied for the electric car premium since it
04:54launched in March.
