Electric car: Tesla wants to support the reimbursement of environmental premiums for 800 Model S.

Bad summer surprise for some 800 Tesla buyers who bought a particularly affordable version of the Model S electric limousine in Germany: each must pay back 2000 euros of environmental premium to the Federal Office of the 39 economy and export controls (Bafa). Because the manager of the application and the payment of the premium Bafa starts according to his own message of Tuesday with the federal part of the premium to recover. The Office grants and awards € 2,000 only if the customer can prove with the application that the manufacturer adds the same amount, so that the maximum environmental bonus for a pure electric car can be Raise to 4000 €.

Affected by Refund These Tesla customers who purchased a Tesla Model S before March 6, 2018 and paid the purchase premium. According to Bafa, the environmental bonus has already been approved for around 800 Tesla Model S buyers. In all cases, buyers must reimburse the federal portion of the premium at the office. If and how that can also apply to the manufacturer's share of the premium, it was not clear Tuesday night. In addition, the agency will now reject about 250 additional claims of Tesla Model S buyers' environmental bonus.

Tesla wants to amortize the recovery of the premium for its customers, as announced by the automaker in a statement Wednesday morning. Tesla said that buyers of its electric cars in Germany should receive environmental bonuses to pay back. From the statement in English, however, it is not clear whether Tesla itself only takes back the payment from the federal share or also the manufacturer's share. manager-magazin.de asked Bafa and Tesla for more details.

The context of the case is a trick on Tesla's side. Because the premium of Bafa purchase should be paid only for electric vehicles that cost a net maximum price of 60,000 euros. The list price of the Tesla S model was significantly higher initially. As reported manager-magazin.de, Tesla offered in November 2016, but in Germany, a heavily reduced basic model for 58,000 euros. In the vehicle, many functions could unlock later – for each a few extra thousand euros.

The deadline until early July is pbaded "inconclusive"

With this, buyers of a Tesla Model S could also request a environmental bonus. In the fall of 2017, however, evidence has confirmed that this basic version offered could not be delivered. As a result, Bafa withdrew Tesla's basic offer from the list of eligible vehicles on November 30, 2017.

Since Bafa wrote, Bafa wanted to reach a mutually agreed solution with Tesla for customers who ordered the basic model and the environmental price had asked. Bafa had given Tesla a deadline until early July 2018 to develop a solution. "The builder has not made use of this offer, the discussions with Tesla have unfortunately been in vain," the agency writes. Therefore, now "because of the requirements of the Administrative Law and Budget Law to reverse the purchase premium."

Tesla denies in his opinion now that the basic version was not available. Everyone in Germany could order them "and we delivered these cars to customers". Tesla had previously accused the federal government of deliberately setting the price limit for the environmental bonus in order to exclude cars from the manufacturer. This is why they have sometimes considered a complaint to the European Commission – until the agreement is reached on a basic version.

The decision of the Federal Office was now unjustified, unfair to buyers and contrary to the objectives of the support program. The electric car maker also wants to challenge Bafa's decision to claim the return premium.

However, authorities agreed on a point with Tesla a few months ago: Tesla Model S vehicles, which were ordered from March 6, 2018, are eligible for Bafa certification – the environmental bonus can be request.

with dpa-afx material