Back in 2010, under a different government, a target was set to ensure 40,000 electric vehicles were on the roads by 2020. Government figures published in August 2019 found there were just 3,402 hybrid and electric plug-in cars registered in Luxembourg, well short of the target.

Responding to a parliamentary question on Thursday, François Bausch (déi gréng) said that his goal was now to ensure that by 2030 half of the country’s stock of privately owned vehicles were powered by electricity.

To help accelerate the transition, Luxembourg has installed some 292 electric vehicle charging stations around the country, a number which remains below the 800 expected by the end of 2020 because of administrative delays.

Furthermore, the government announced in February a new subsidy for the purchase of low- or zero-emission vehicles (with emissions under 50g/km). The subsidies were applied retroactively for vehicles purchased from 1 January 2019. From January to May 2019, some 547 electric vehicles and 237 hybrid plug-ins were newly registered in Luxembourg.