The scheme is a continuation of the electric vehicles scheme financed by the Recovery and Resilience Plan
Transport Malta has launched a €15 million scheme aimed at encouraging the use of cleaner and more sustainable forms of transportation.
The initiative, which was launched by Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects Aaron Farrugia and Parliamentary Secretary for European Funds Chris Bonett, will support the purchase of new electric vehicles in EU Category L, M and N, including passenger cars, vans, goods-carrying vehicles, minibuses, coaches, quadricycles, motorcycles, and pedelecs.
The scheme, which is funded by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), will be available to private individuals, non-government organisations, businesses and private companies.
The aim is to reduce the number of older conventional motor vehicles on the road and promote the use of more environmentally sustainable means of transportation.
Speaking at the launch, Minister Farrugia explained that this was just one of many schemes that Transport Malta will be launching to promote cleaner vehicles.
“Through this scheme, we are continuing to promote the use of cleaner and more environmentally sustainable means of transport. This is a direct investment in people, as we are not only offering them financial help to replace their vehicle, but also a direct investment in better air quality," he said.
"It is worth reminding that the transport sector is the biggest contributor to air pollution and thus as a government, we will continue to invest in this area.”
Parliamentary Secretary Chris Bonett added that the scheme would help make the transport sector more sustainable and decrease emissions caused by private vehicles.
“€50 million are allocated over three years, whereby €15 million were allocated in 2022, a further €15 million will be allocated during this year and the last 20 million by the end of 2024, so that more drivers switch to electric vehicles,” he stated.
Pierre Montebello, Transport Malta’s Chief Officer for Land Transport, said that the transport regulator is looking to offer more opportunities to promote better and more environmentally sustainable transport.
“We launched this scheme precisely for this reason, and together with other initiatives such as free public transport, TM is ensuring that we have cleaner, more efficient and sustainable transport in our country,” he added.
Applicants who have purchased their vehicle from 1 January 2023 onwards and who meet the scheme’s criteria, are eligible forthisscheme. More information is available on
If parking is a problem in Malta, it can be even more of a headache for electric car owners.
The electric charging stations that now dot the island are often occupied by their petrol counterparts, says EV enthusiast Luke Zammit.
There is no enforcement either. Fines for blocking a charging station are not being applied, he claimed.
While there is no legislation that specifically makes it illegal to park a car with an internal combustion engine (ICE) in an EV charging bay, it is being considered a contravention under the bracket of the €23.29 fines, a spokesperson for the Local Enforcement System said.
Video: Karl Andrew Micallef
“Our officers are instructed to issue fines when they see this happening and, yes, fines have been issued,” a LESA spokesman said.
However, he was unable to say how many were issued as the fine only specifies that the car was illegally parked.
Zammit insists that parking in charging stations is a common occurrence.
“Even though the app for EV charging stations tells you 80 per cent are available, it does not account for the parked cars,” he said.
“This means the police have to be called in and, if you are lucky, the drivers will come and remove their vehicles.”
Cars are not only parked at the new rapid chargers next to the Central Bank in Valletta – “they are double and triple parked!”
For those who live in a flat, or do not own a garage and have to rely on public stations, “it becomes a problem if you do not find one on the day you need to charge,” Zammit pointed out.
However, the situation is set to improve as some 130 new electric car charging pillars are being installed across the island. Together with the modernisation of existing pillars, this will take the number of stations up to 360 by the end of the year.
This exercise has already started, but the app is still “quite buggy,” Zammit insisted. “It is not there yet.”
Charging stations often occupied by petrol counterparts
A bigger issue than the number of charging stations is their insufficiency in certain localities.
While two are enough in Rabat, for example, they are not enough in towns like Mosta, Sliema and other hotspots where more people work and commute to, Zammit believes.
In the case of the free chargers in Ta’ Xbiex, Ċirkewwa and the Valletta Waterfront, “it is obvious everyone wants to use them – and when they are taken up by parked cars, it can be very frustrating”.
In fact, Zammit would not opt for more of these. Beyond the positive fact that the free pillars are solar-powered, his reasoning is that charging an electric car is very cheap – it costs Zammit just €6 to charge his car every nine days – that it is “not worth the hassle” of having everyone converge on a free station.
“In reality, the fact that they are free causes more problems, with more drivers wanting to use them.”
Malta is light years behind in EVs, Zammit said, quoting Norway as an example, where combustion-engine cars will stop being imported in 2025.
The vast majority of Norway’s car sales are EVs, and normal cars are taxed so heavily they cost more than electric ones, he said.
Locally, charging pillars were first installed eight years ago, but “zero effort” has been made to improve things until now, Zammit maintained.
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