Deadline of current first registration tax concession arrangement for electric vehicles extended for three years
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A Government spokesman said, "The current FRT concession arrangement for EVs is scheduled to end on March 31, 2021. Taking into account factors including the market situation and development of EVs, we consider that the early announcement of the three-year extension before the end of the existing concession arrangement could help the relevant trades to plan for the amounts and models of EVs to be imported in a timely manner. As a result, the public could have suitable environmentally friendly choices and together support a green recovery."
Apart from providing FRT concessions for EVs, the Budget this year has allocated funds to support various measures to actively promote the use of EVs. They included injecting $800 million into the New Energy Transport Fund to subsidise trials and applications for electric commercial vehicles, allocating $80 million and $350 million for trials of electric public light buses and electric ferries respectively, and setting aside $2 billion to subsidise car park owners of existing private residential buildings to install EV charging infrastructure. In addition, starting from last financial year, the Government is spending a total amount of $120 million over three years to install more than 1 000 additional public chargers in government car parks.
Furthermore, the Government has set out in this year's Budget the formulation of Hong Kong's first road map on the popularisation of EVs. The relevant work is in progress and is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2021.
Ends/Thursday, August 20, 2020
Issued at HKT 18:25
Issued at HKT 18:25
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