Tondela, Viseu, Portugal, June 12, 2026 (Lusa) - The Portuguese minister for the environment and energy announced on Friday that the government scheme to support the purchase of electric cars, which opened on Thursday, closed “within a few hours” and, due to the conflict in the Middle East, no further schemes will be launched this year.

“It opened at 4.30 pm [on Thursday] and by the evening it had already been fully used up. The €10 million was exhausted in a matter of hours. There were several categories; those for cars and bicycles were exhausted in a very short time,” Maria da Graça Carvalho told journalists.

In the minister’s view, this “shows, on the one hand, the appetite people have, the awareness that we need to electrify, decarbonise and not depend on fossil fuels, and that is a good thing”.

IYN/AYLS // AYLS

Lusa