Three out of four vehicles will be affected by the Climate Change Act and the introduction of traffic restrictions in municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants
Spanish cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants -and in some cases in municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants- must have a Low Emission Zone (ZBE) by 2023, with the aim of complying with the Climate Law, which will affect at least 149 Spanish municipalities .
However, 3 out of 4 cars in these municipalities are internal combustion engines, without any kind of electrification, as evidenced by the MSI data for Sumauto, a specialist in vertical car portals integrating Autocasión, AutoScout24 and Rentingcoches, among others, announced on the occasion of the first edition of the MOBS mobility event, attended at the opening by the Mayor of Madrid,
Jose Luis Martinez Almeida “Unfortunately, Madrid continues to exceed air quality limits,” Almeida recalls, “although we have never exceeded this late, we have never exceeded so little.” 50% of these emissions come from mobility.
Almeida has indicated that his government has taken “restrictive measures” in this regard. In addition to the Central District, the city council has drawn up a calendar of progressive restrictions until 2025, when all unlabelled vehicles – petrol before 2000 and diesel before 2006 – will be banned.
This panorama leaves in the air what will happen to the free urban traffic of cars with labels A, B and C that usually circulate daily through these municipalities, where more than 25 million people live, that is 53% of the inhabitants of our country , according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
On the other hand, in the absence of knowledge of the regulations of each municipality, a priori only one in four cars could have facilities to drive through the central almonds. In particular, hybrids in their various forms account for 18.4% and, with much more residual shares, electric cars 3.9% and, finally, LPG/CNG cars, 2%.
In order to increase citizens’ accessibility to the central almonds and their ZBE, the long-term vehicle rental modality (rental) is proposed as one of the formulas that can accelerate the electrification of the vehicle fleet and reduce its obsolescence (average age 13.5 years) and thus the emission levels.
In this sense, more than 600,000 rental vehicles are circulating on Spanish roads, leading the contribution of ‘ECO’ vehicles to the fleet at 15.5% of the total. At the same time, this fast-growing long-term rental mode is also the leader in the average emissions rating with 119.8 g/km CO2, which is below average (138.2).
One in four registrations in our country comes from renting, according to the AER, and according to MSI’s forecasts, the access road to mobility will grow the most in 2022, with an increase of 17% compared to 2021. The final decision on the application of the law will be the responsibility of each city council, although the text of the law specifies that access, circulation and parking restrictions will be applied according to the classification of the vehicles according to their level of emissions, so that those of combustion are fully affected.
In addition, as a side note, the legislation opens the door to measures that also apply to municipalities with 20,000 to 50,000 inhabitants when the limit values for regulated pollutants are exceeded, which may extend their scope.
According to
Inigo Brena, director of Rentingcoches.com, the rental portal of Sumauto, «rental will play a fundamental role in the consolidation of the electric vehicle in our country. The accessibility, flexibility, comfort and tax advantages offered by this modality form a perfect formula for overcoming access and movement restrictions such as the ZBE. However, this change must be accompanied by infrastructure improvements, such as charging, as it is estimated that nearly 40,000 places will need to be electrified in municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants.
Source: La Verdad
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
