ERTEs and Million-Euro Losses in the Automotive Sector: The Consequences of the Lack of the Moves Plan

The industrial, technological, and service ecosystem of electric mobility is facing monthly losses exceeding 500 million euros in revenue and the dismissal of at least 260 workers due to the absence of a support plan and the market's stagnation since January 22.

These are the estimates from the Business Association for the Development and Promotion of Electric Mobility (AEDIVE), highlighting that each month without the Moves Plan results in a loss of 500 million euros in revenue and 260 jobs.

It is also reported that some companies in the sector are considering implementing temporary layoffs (ERTEs) to manage the workforce expansion they had planned in anticipation of a favourable scenario for electric vehicles by 2025, driven by the European CAFE regulation's emission reduction targets and the initial surge in registrations earlier this year, before the promised aids at the end of 2024 were nullified on January 22.

AEDIVE has calculated, based on information from the business ecosystem, the average monthly loss in sales and revenue from electric vehicle sales, as well as the average monthly investment in charging infrastructure installation and domestic manufacturing of charging points.

Although the year started positively for electric vehicle registrations, the automotive sector is already feeling the impact of the Moves Plan's non-renewal, which has halted reservations for electric models pending its reactivation. Josep María Recasens, president of the Spanish Association of Automobile and Truck Manufacturers, emphasized at the fifth edition of the ANFAC Forum that "a plan is needed to lead the technological race using the automotive sector as a lever. This plan should not only involve the automotive sector but also include other actors such as energy, digital, financial, insurance, or services, as well as the state, regions, municipalities, and social representation. A national plan that is sustainable over time and allows Spain to position itself in technological leadership," and furthermore, it must be done in a context where "never before has the sector faced so many challenges simultaneously."

José López-Tafall, general director of ANFAC, stressed the need for a dedicated plan with the electric vehicle as a growth vector, decarbonization as a goal, and competitiveness as the path. He also highlighted the urgency of a shock plan for this year, emphasizing the need to provide aid to citizens and companies to facilitate this transition. "Citizens must see the electrified vehicle as accessible, and without an urgent aid plan, it will not be possible. Companies, on the other hand, need a general context that incentivizes change, with taxation being the lever that can drive it. All this, considering the need to accelerate the installation of public access charging points."

"The reactivation of MOVES 3 aids and other committed programs should not, in any case, diminish the Government's ambition to promote an incentive model with direct purchase aids and bold fiscal measures - sending the right signals to the market and allowing compliance with the PNIEC objectives - which are already applied in other countries where the push for electric vehicles is successful," AEDIVE explains. Therefore, the electric mobility association calls on all political groups for the necessary consensus to immediately reactivate Moves 3, as well as the publication of the base orders for MOVES Corridors and MOVES Fleets Plus, because the announcement of the future retroactive nature of the aids is not, by itself, generating enough market confidence to reactivate sales.

AEDIVE urges all political groups and the government to reach the necessary consensus to publish, as soon as possible, a specific Royal Decree Law with the aids, ensuring it will be subsequently ratified in the Congress of Deputies, to end the market's uncertainty "after more than a month without a solution to the anguish of companies and professionals in the sector, who cannot wait any longer, while they see their businesses crumbling day by day."

"The reactivation of MOVES 3 aids and other committed programs should not, in any case, diminish the Government's ambition to promote an incentive model with direct purchase aids and bold fiscal measures - sending the right signals to the market and allowing compliance with the PNIEC objectives - which are already applied in other countries where the push for electric vehicles is successful," concludes AEDIVE's statement.