The new direct purchase assistance plan prepared by the government and announced on Wednesday by the head of the executive branch, Pedro Sanchez, contains small details. As multiple sources have confirmed to this newspaper, the brand-new, $400 million Auto+ Plan that will go into effect on January 1 will not cover demand for the Moves plan, which has not yet been resolved and is on a waiting list. These sources indicate that the Auto+ scheme will start from scratch in 2026, and that, unlike Moves, it will not serve to provide assistance to individual charging points, but will focus exclusively on the purchase of electric and hybrid cars. The president was clear on this point, noting that we must help “the working middle class afford an electric car.”
People close to the negotiation process indicate that the executive’s idea is for personal charging points to be supported, if appropriate, by independent brands or regions. The government will focus on helping to increase the existing public network of charging points, especially on the road, where fast and ultra-fast charging stations are needed, and where today there are many roads that are not adequately covered. For this purpose, 300 million will be allocated from the moves announced by Sanchez.
Although it has just been announced, the Executive is still currently working on setting up the Auto+ plan, so it is still not entirely clear, for example, how applications on the waiting list will be responded to, although Executive sources indicate that it will work to ensure that everyone gets their help. Informed sources indicate that the waiting list for Moves amounts to about 300 million euros, including subsidies for the purchase of electric cars (electric and hybrid) and charging points. Another aspect that is not yet clear is the amount of assistance that will be provided to applicants: with Moves, for purely electric cars, the assistance amounted to 7,000 euros if scrapping of an old vehicle is included and 4,500 euros without scrapping.
It should be remembered, in turn, that the moves were an environmental transition program, which then distributed funds between the autonomous regions, while the new plan will be under the wing of industry and will be managed centrally, without the participation of the autonomous regions, as the media reported last month. Taking autonomy out of the equation was a request from the sector, which was generally satisfied with the new money, which also includes a new Perte for electric and connected vehicles in 2026 for which 580 million will be awarded.
The Auto+ plan builds on the positive experience of the Valencian Community’s Auto+ Restart plan, which helped people who lost their car during Dana October last year. The programme, praised by the sector for its speed in providing subsidies, with an average wait of one month (compared to 18 months for Moves), boosted the market in the region, prompting the Valencian Community to increase its sales by 44.8% between January and November, when the Spanish market as a whole grew by 14.7%, according to data from Anfac, the national association of the automobile industry.
The latest moves, announced on April 1, came at a time of uncertainty for cars, which were left without purchase assistance due to the fall in January 2025 of the comprehensive decree, which included a range of measures. It has put the sector on a war footing, warning in the first quarter that orders were supposedly paralyzed due to the lack of support. The fact is that electric car sales (including electric cars and hybrids) rose dramatically between January and March, and have continued to do so throughout 2025, with an increase of 100.1% through November, meaning they have doubled. This exceptional behavior of the Spanish market occurred despite the fact that the Moves 2025 programme, which was also awarded $400 million, was short-lived, with many autonomous communities warning at the end of the summer that the funds would be exhausted.