Bucharest applies for EUR 283 million in EU funds to buy electric buses, other vehicles

The Bucharest City Hall announced that it submitted financing requests for EUR 283 million worth of EU funds to procure electric buses and other vehicles for public transport.

The city is seeking to buy 100 trams and 100 electric buses, among other vehicles, Romania Insider reported.

The biggest project targets the acquisition of 100 trams, worth an estimated EUR 220 million, of which some EUR 176 million would come from the EU. The municipality also requested EU financing to buy 100 electric buses worth over EUR 56 million.

Recently, Bucharest’s General Council approved another program to grant 5,000 vouchers worth RON 9,000 (EUR 1,935) each, or a total of some EUR 9,7 million, to residents who scrap their old and polluting cars and buy non-diesel Euro 6 cars and hybrid and electric cars, as well as other types of electric vehicles, but also consumer electronics and household appliances, the Romanian media reported.

The vouchers issued by the City Hall cannot be used together with the vouchers granted through the government-backed Rabla cash-for-clunkers programs.

Romanian Minister of Energy Anton Anton said in June that the country intends to install 200,000 electric vehicle charging stations in the next four years, as part of efforts to boost its share of renewables for fuels used in road transport, which is at only 1% currently.

In the first quarter of 2018, the number of electric and hybrid cars sold in Romania jumped 62.4% year-on-year, to 661, according to the Association of Cars Producers and Importers (APIA).

In Q1, the share of green cars among cars sold nationally stood at 2.2%, up from 1.7% in the same period a year earlier.

According to government forecasts, Romanians are expected to buy 2,000 electric cars in 2018 through the Rabla Plus subsidy program.

Romania is otherwise among leading EU member states when it comes to reaching its overall 2020 renewables target, of 24%, which it attained in 2016.