Electric Mobility Programme of Estonia

ELMO stands for electromobility in Estonia. The ELMO programme promotes emission free personal transportation and electric cars in order to achieve better city environment, energy efficiency and fuel independence.

The Government of the Republic of Estonia concluded a contract with Mitsubishi Corporation for the sale of AAUs in the amount of 10 million AAUs to start the Estonian electromobility programme. The programme consists of three parts:

1) The Ministry of Social Affairs will take 507 Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric cars into use.

The first five electric cars were given to the social workers on 21 October 2011. The cars are specially customised for cold climates. In the first application round, the Ministry of Social Affairs received applications for 379 electric cars, while additional applications are expected from local governments for the remaining 128 cars. The first 50 Mitsubishi i-MiEV cars will be in users' hands in 2011 already, while the remaining 457 will arrive during spring and summer 2012.

2) The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications will develop the grant scheme to support acquisition of electric cars.

In the framework of the electric car project, individuals and legal persons are eligible for up to €18 000 of support for the purchase, made possible by Foundation KredEx. In addition, up to €1 000 support is being provided for charger purchases and related installation. The support is being provided for purchasing an electric car from a country in the European Economic Area or Switzerland and bearing a European Union type approval. The car must have at least a two-year warranty, the battery, a five-year warranty, and the applicant must be the first owner of the car.

3) Charging infrastructure for electric cars, covering the whole territory of Estonia, will be built.

Estonia will also get a network of quick charging networks for the electric cars – around 200 of them countrywide. The chargers will be installed along all primary and secondary roads at a 40-60 kilometre interval and in all cities and settlements with at least 3 000 inhabitants. An international public procurement is under way to establish the charging network, and the winner will be determined by the end of the year. In addition to installing the quick chargers, ordinary chargers will also be installed at all local governments participating in the project, for convenient charging during working hours.