France plans to cut the manufacturing carbon footprint that mid-size electric cars may carry and still qualify for state support, according to a draft order the ecological transition ministry put to public consultation, as fully electric vehicles took a record 38.3% of the French market in August.
The draft keeps the 60-point minimum on the environmental score, the 80-point scale France has used since late 2023 to decide which electric cars get public money.
What changes is the conversion of a car’s carbon footprint into that score, and for the category where most eligible cars sit, the conversion becomes stricter.
The consultation runs until October 7 and it had drawn two public contributions by Monday.
The draft is signed on behalf of the ministries of ecological transition, economy, transport and regional planning, through the directors general for energy and climate and for enterprise.
What the Draft Changes
The October 2023 order that created the score splits electric cars into two categories. Versions with at least five seats, a boot of at least 200 litres and an electric range of at least 170 km are scored against a carbon band running from 12,000 kg to 21,000 kg of CO2 equivalent.
A vehicle at or below the lower figure scores the full 80 points, one at or above the upper figure scores zero, and the score falls in a straight line in between. All other versions, mostly small city cars, are scored against a separate band.
The draft adds a third category at the top. Any version with at least seven seats, or a boot of at least 410 litres, or an electric range of at least 550 km, keeps the existing 12,000 to 21,000 kg band.
The remaining five-seaters, those below all three of those thresholds, move to a tighter band of 10,300 to 19,300 kg. The small-car category is renumbered but otherwise untouched.
The arithmetic matters more than the band. On the current formula a five-seat car passes 60 points with a footprint of up to 14,250 kg.
Under the draft, a five-seater with a boot under 410 litres and a range under 550 km would need to stay at or below 12,550 kg, a limit 1,700 kg or 11.9% lower.
The three criteria for the new top category are alternatives, not cumulative.
A version meeting any one of them qualifies for the more generous band, which means a mid-size crossover with a 410-litre boot keeps today’s treatment while a five-seat hatchback with a 380-litre boot and the same footprint could drop off the list.
Why the Ministry Says It Is Needed
The ministry gave two reasons in the consultation notice.
“A very large proportion of electric vehicles that reach the minimum score are currently in the second category,” it said, and the two-way split “does not sufficiently capture the variety of use cases, from the small city car for personal use to the large family or utility vehicle.”
Keeping two distinct categories within the old family band “without easing the environmental requirements of the score therefore requires a change to the method of calculating the score for category 2 vehicles,” it said.
That is the ministry’s case for the tightening, and it is framed as a technical correction rather than a policy shift. The effect is to raise the bar for exactly the segment that has become the default route onto the list.
What the Draft Does Not Say
The draft contains no transitional provision. It would take effect the day after publication in the Official Journal, and it does not say whether versions already on the list will be re-scored under the new bands or keep their status until their files are reviewed.
The January 2025 amendment, which changed how the manufacturing site is defined, kept the old rules in force for about ten weeks where they were more favourable.
The draft also leaves the dates blank. Its template anticipates notification to the European Commission and signature in October, which would put a new methodology in force before the end of the year.
It does not touch the six components of the footprint calculation, which cover steel, aluminium, other materials, the battery, manufacturing and transport to France, and it does not activate the provision in the Energy Code that would let up to 30% of the score reflect recycled content and battery repairability.
What the Score Controls
The score was built for the ecological bonus, and it now decides far more than that. Since July 2025 the purchase aid has been paid through France’s energy-savings certificate scheme rather than the state budget, and a version qualifies only if it is on the list, costs no more than €47,000 ($53,900) including tax and weighs under 2,400 kg, per ADEME.
It also gates the social leasing scheme, whose third round opened on July 16 with 50,000 places. That programme requires a score of at least 60, a price under €47,000 and a weight under 1,800 kg, and covers 29% of the price up to €6,500 ($7,500), or up to €9,000 ($10,300) for cars built in Europe.
The score also conditions the 70% reduction in the taxable benefit on company electric cars.
As of August 20, ADEME’s list held 1,197 eligible versions across about 220 models, per figures cited by the Paris Motor Show’s website. The ministry has amended the list at least five times this year.
The score has never named a country, but its emission factors depend on where a car and its battery cells are made, and it has kept most China-built EVs out of French aid since December 2023.
Tightening the middle band without changing those factors extends the same logic to a larger share of the market.
The Market It Lands On
French new-car registrations rose 7.4% in August to 94,349, the Plateforme automobile said, with 21 working days against 20 a year earlier, which accounts for most of the gain. Registrations for the first eight months were up 3.05% at 1,078,323.
Battery-electric registrations more than doubled to 36,159, a 38.3% share and a record for a third consecutive month, after about 35% in July.
The ministry’s own statistics service put the August share at 38.2%, up 3.1 points on July, with petrol-only cars at 12.3%, petrol hybrids at 36.8%, plug-in hybrids at 6.3% and diesel, including mild hybrids, at 2.4%.
AAA Data said the month confirmed “the recomposition under way of the energy mix.” A PFA spokeswoman, quoted by Le Figaro, called it “a market on a drip, holding up thanks to sales of electric vehicles driven by social leasing,” and noted that summer volumes before the pandemic were closer to 105,000.
Tesla registrations rose 279% in August, while Stellantis gained 4.6% and Renault Group fell 4.6%, per the PFA figures.
