This is a “story” that is hard to believe because this topic comes up so often. As you probably know, in France electric cars are entitled to an environmental bonus if their price does not exceed 47,000 euros.

The bonus, which should be reviewed in 2024 and exclude, in particular, electric cars with “too high a carbon footprint”, that is, to remain politically correct, which most models produced outside Europe will no longer be subsidized.

Going back to our story about the environmental bonus, in 2023 an electric vehicle must not cost more than €47,000 to receive the €5,000 (or €7,000 depending on income) grant. But in fact, there was one subtlety that no manufacturer took into account, and which only Tesla has just discovered.

Better late than never?

In late October last year, the law governing the application of the French environmental bonus changed. Yes, almost a year ago! Indeed, the resolution of December 4, 2022 on the conditions for managing aid for the purchase and lease of vehicles with a low level of pollution determines that “Purchase value for purposes of eligibility and determining the amount of assistance provided does not include non-interior vehicle equipment such as options”.

So, so it’s possible to get an eco bonus for a car worth more than €47,000 when you add options, as long as the base version costs less than €47,000.

Tesla apparently reacted extremely quickly, faster than other manufacturers, immediately adapting its configurator. Thanks to this French subtlety, Tesla no longer includes the cost of options in the calculation of the environmental bonus.

So you can order a Tesla Model 3 Propulsion with a base price of €42,990, add almost €9,000 worth of options to bring the total to over €50,000, and still benefit from a €5,000 (or €7,000) environmental bonus .

In fact, even though the changes to the regulation will soon be a year old, it appears that some manufacturers have recently reached out to the administration for clarification on the definition of “non-internal vehicle equipment” and the answer was formulated quite recently.

Can we claim this bonus if we haven’t received it?

As indicated on the official website of the French administration, you can apply for an environmental bonus within six months of purchasing a vehicle, whether for cash or lease. As a result, customers who, for example, bought a Model 3 with several options less than six months ago, ignoring the bonus, will finally be able to request it.

However, there shouldn’t be too many, as the whole point of a Tesla Model Y or Model 3 Propulsion is to benefit from the bonus. And since the subtlety described above was not known, probably few customers ordered a car of this type excluded (theoretically) from the bonus.

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