Financial support for the purchase of bikes is one of the most powerful ways governments and cities can show their support for cycling. Therefore we are delighted that CIE’s collaboration with the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) and the City Changer Cargo Bike project (CCCB) has resulted in the creation of a new interactive tool that lists over 300 incentive schemes across Europe, from local city premiums to national tax breaks.
CIE believes the new purchase incentives tool will fast become one of the “go to” locations for the cycling industries in Europe, because the tool is a permanent resource to help companies find the most up-to-date information on sales support in every country.
CIE and ECF put this at the heart of our lobby work towards the European Union and its member states, arguing that “Access funds” should be part of every country’s recovery plans and Green Deal measures.
As consumers and companies across the continent upgrade their rides to e-bikes and electrically assisted cargo bikes access to finance is essential for making the purchases more accessible, through company bikes schemes, leasing and purchase incentives. Our members include some of Europe’s leading service companies helping the industry implement these schemes, such as our member Jobrad, the largest company bike scheme operator in Germany, supplying bike leases to 40,000 leading companies.
Now businesses can find schemes in 14 out of 27 EU countries, regional schemes including Germany (10 out of 16 states), Italy (10 out of 20 regions) and local schemes, such as Switzerland (more than 60 schemes) and Belgium (almost 40 schemes). An incredible six pages of entries support cargo bike deployment for citizens and business. Until now there have been national and regional directories such as the excellent cargo bike premiums directory for Germany and Austria on cargobike.jetzt, but nothing that covered the whole continent.
Kevin Mayne, CEO of Cycling Industries Europe, said: “Europe’s cycling industry is leading the world in the change to e-mobility. Every year, many more electric bikes than electric cars are sold in Europe. We are happy to see that many public authorities already support this change through targeted incentives, but we hope to see even more schemes in the future. As well as the fiscal incentives, innovative companies are combining the benefits with leases and company-bike schemes which stretch the benefits even further. This will help to maintain Europe’s leading position in this field, create jobs and growth in the industry, but it will also be beneficial for consumers, the climate and our cities.”
Jill Warren, CEO of ECF, said: “Tax breaks and purchase premiums open up cycling to large groups of the population who used cars before, including commuters and the elderly using electric bicycles, but also families and small businesses, which now can use cargo bikes for their logistics. These schemes can be put in place at a fraction of the cost governments are investing in tax cuts for company cars and subsidies for electric cars. Public administrations must reform their tax systems to provide more fiscal incentives for cycling and include support schemes for buying electric and cargo bikes in their National Recovery and Resilience Plans under the NextGenerationEU recovery fund.”
Is your company part of the movement to get more financial support schemes in more countries? If not – Join CIE today!
Know of a scheme that isn’t listed? Contact ECF to get it added.
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