The city is using cash incentives to speed up the shift away from petrol mopeds. Starting this week, residents who scrap a combustion moped and buy an electric one can get up to 600 euros per vehicle. Barcelona aims to remove 24,000 polluting mopeds from the road by 2030 and cut annual CO2 emissions by 3,000 tonnes.
The subsidy, first announced by the mayor last November, is now available and will run until September 2028. Applicants need proof of purchase of an electric moped and a certificate showing that the old moped was destroyed. Applications are online, and the city will cover up to half the pre-tax price of the new electric model.
The subsidy program applies retroactively: purchases and scrapping done after March 1, 2026, are eligible for compensation.
El Periódico
Most residents with a petrol moped, as well as anyone who has bought an electric one since March 1, can apply. The city has set aside 5.2 million euros for this first phase, with a total of 15 million euros planned through 2030. The measure is part of Barcelona’s Plan Clima, a citywide effort to cut emissions, with 1.8 billion euros to be invested by the end of the decade.
To make electric mopeds more practical, Barcelona will also install 64 battery-swap stations across the city. The rules for the stations are already in place, and the city will soon invite proposals to build them. The new infrastructure is intended to ease range concerns and make electric mopeds a practical option for daily travel.
Until now, there was no public aid aimed specifically at mopeds, even though they are a major source of urban air pollution. Barcelona’s move comes as other parts of Spain also deal with the environmental and social costs of outdated transport and housing, as highlighted in recent reports on labor and housing conditions elsewhere in the country.
Barcelona’s plan is direct: people will be paid to scrap polluting mopeds, while the city invests in infrastructure and follows a clear timeline. City officials are betting that cash incentives and practical support will do more to change habits than general appeals to sustainability. The city has set a budget and streamlined applications; new battery stations are also on the way. It wants electric mopeds to become the standard. If the plan works, it could become a model for other European cities facing similar problems with urban transport and air quality.
