ARCHIVED - Cars in Spain are too old for Low Emission Zones, say transport experts

ARCHIVED ARTICLE -

The automotive sector in Spain believes 30% of vehicles will be banned from the new zones

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Cars in Spain are too old for Low Emission Zones, say transport experts

The Círculo Neutral in Motion (NIM), which is made up of different associations from the Spanish automotive sector, has warned this week that almost 30% of the country's vehicles will not be able to access the new low emission zones (ZBE).

Municipalities across Spain with more than 50,000 inhabitants will have to establish these ZBEs which will limit access for more polluting cars, and in most areas drivers will be obliged to buy an Environmental Label to place in their windscreen.

According to the group, vehicles in Spain are an average of 13.9 years old, which is well above the EU average of 12 years, and these environmentally damaging cars will be excluded from the low emission zones.

"A 20-year-old vehicle contaminates as much" as five new cars "of the same technology and fuel," the NIM claims.

Regulating access to the ZBEs should certainly help improve the air quality in Spanish cities and reduce the impact of climate change, but the group argues that it’s failing to tackle the real problem: the number of old cars on the roads.

To address the issue, the NIM has called on the government to provide direct aid to motorists who purchase newer vehicles and to reform the current registration tax system to make it cheaper for drivers who buy less polluting cars.

And at a meeting last week, representatives from the national automobile sector asked President Sanchez to consider tax and VAT cuts for businesses and self-employed workers who opt for zero-emission vehicles.

Spain has already implemented an incentive programme for the purchase of electric vehicles, but the uptake has so far been disappointing, with the majority of motorists still preferring petrol and diesel models.

Despite the fact that the Spanish government has a plan in place to install far more charging points in the very near future, the big fuel companies are still pumping money into low-cost filling stations, which now account for 18.3% of all service stations in Spain.

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Image: DGT

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