ATHENS – Under a so-called Green Taxi scheme, some 2000 gasoline and diesel-burning taxi cabs in Greece will be replaced with electric vehicles with the owners getting a state subsidy for purchase.

Applications for participation in the program will be accepted from Jan. 9 to the year’s end, a 40 percent subsidy up to a maximum of 17,500 euros ($18,771) said a report in AM News.

The 40-million euro ($42.91 million) program will be financed through the Fund for Recovery and Sustainability in a plan to rid the fleet of old pollution-creating cars which had to air problems in Athens and cities.

Five thousand euros will be paid separately for the mandatory removal of the old car. The amount of the subsidy will increase by 1,000 euros ($1,072.65 if the car owner is disabled, a parent with children, or a citizen under the age of 29.

In August of 2020 – at the height of the raging COVID-19 pandemic that’s now subsiding – Greece’s New Democracy government stepped up plans – and subsidies – to get people into electric and zero and low-emission vehicles as well as creating more charging stations around the country.

The incentives, after earlier announcements of enticements to get people to switch to electric cars that are proliferating – General Motors said it will phase out the internal combustion engine within a decade – were set out by the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (IAPR) and announced.

The breaks are bigger for full electric cars than for hybrids which also have a gasoline-powered option and are less expensive and have been in circulation for years, although more electric version are being offered.

With some of the oldest – and newest – roads in the European Union and heavy smog at times in the cities from vehicles, the government’s aim is for 30 percent of cars to be electric by 2030.