Portugal plans electric car grants of up to €15,000 for vulnerable households

The announcement

Portugal's Minister of Environment and Energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, announced on Monday, 2 November, that the government will co-finance between 70% and 90% of the price of an electric car bought by vulnerable households, up to a ceiling of €15,000. The measure is part of the package in the 2027 State Budget (OE2027) and was outlined to journalists during the parliamentary debate on the draft budget. The subsidy can be raised by €1,000 when a household hands over an old car for scrapping. A separate line to finance electric charging points is still under study. The support is due to open in the first months of 2027, and the key dates are set out below.

Who qualifies and how the money flows

Eligible households are those with the electricity social tariff and those with incomes below 80% of the national median, which the articles put at up to €11,572 a year. Households holding the social tariff get priority. The government estimates 1.5 million households are eligible, about double the roughly 750,000 people who currently hold the social electricity tariff. Support will be paid as vouchers exchanged with car dealers, modelled on the e-lar programme, and households will not have to advance any money. Each household can submit only one application, and the government plans to provide a simulator so people can check their eligibility, while it studies with the Tax Authority an automatic check.

Which cars qualify

Applications will cover new cars or used ones under five years old, priced up to €37,500, and the vehicle must be bought from a dealer. Cars bought with the aid cannot be resold for three years. A Jornal de Negócios analysis, reported by RTP, found that against a €15,000 pre-tax limit only the entry version of the Dacia Spring, at €13,740 before tax, qualifies. With the scrappage top-up, which lifts the threshold to €16,000, the Leapmotor T03 at €15,284.5 and the Renault Twingo E-Tech at €15,845.3 could also fit. The minister said the vehicle price ceiling has not been fixed, and that it is natural it will follow €37,500 plus inflation, the ceiling the Environmental Fund already used.

Funding and scale

The scheme is financed by the Social Climate Plan, which PÚBLICO reports will mobilise €1.6 billion until 2032 and covers buildings and transport on the mainland, the Azores and Madeira. For households, the estimated allocation is €104.5 million for about 5,500 vehicles, a figure that could grow by about 1,000 units after talks in Brussels. PÚBLICO reports the government also wants to add around 1,100 vehicles using funds from categories the European Commission rejected, but does not yet know whether Brussels will allow it. The wider package sets aside €228 million for about 9,000 microenterprises to buy 13,700 vehicles, and €125.5 million to co-finance 700 buses for low-density areas. Expresso reports that microenterprises receive 63% of the support for 21,500 vehicles, while vulnerable households get 27% of the new cheques.

Households (electric car vouchers)104.5

Microenterprises (13,700 vehicles)228

Buses for low-density areas (700)125.5

Households (electric car vouchers)

104.5 million euros

Microenterprises (13,700 vehicles)

228 million euros

Buses for low-density areas (700)

125.5 million euros

Data from the article text

What the minister cited and what remains open

The minister justified the measure by the need to reduce "dependence on diesel". She said more than 20% of vulnerable families in Portugal own a car, and that of those, 24% live in the interior and 23% on the outskirts of large cities. The extra 1,000 or so vehicles still depend on Brussels, and the final vehicle price limit is not closed. Applications are expected in the first months of 2027, with vehicles bought from dealers and held for three years.