- What counts as an environmental car may change and thus biogas cars would no longer be counted as green cars, according to a proposal from the government.
- It could be a severe blow to biogas cars and could lead to fewer such cars sold, according to critics.
- “As we see it, it will make the transition of the entire transport sector more difficult,” says Per Östborn, project manager at the organization Green Motorists, to Ekot.
“The proposal means that government agencies are not allowed to buy any biogas cars and then it also becomes a signal value. Then companies, municipalities, regions and maybe even private individuals will no longer want to buy biogas cars,” says Per Östborn at Gröna Bilister to Ekot.
When the government now proposes how an EU directive, on, among other things, environmental requirements for the procurement of cars, should be implemented in Sweden is one of the proposals that the definition of green cars be changed from the turn of the year. It thus affects which cars the authorities must buy.
If this becomes a reality, biogas cars would no longer be counted as an environmental car, instead it would be electric cars, possibly certain plug-in hybrids and then hydrogen cars.
According to Mats Ola Larsson, researcher at IVL Swedish Environmental Institute, a change would be negative. Even if the authorities buy few cars, the signal value would affect all the more, he says.
“The proposal is stupid, because biogas cars are also a good environmental choice,” he says.
What makes you critical of this? For electric cars and plug-in hybrids also have low emissions.
“The basic idea is very good – to steer towards the environmentally environmentally friendly vehicles. But biogas is also a good alternative. It is stupid to exclude one of two good alternatives,” says Larsson.
Minister of Infrastructure Tomas Eneroth (S) writes in a comment to Ekot that “this is an EU directive that Sweden must implement and in connection with this it is proposed that the EU directive’s definition of a clean light car is also made to the green car definition in government procurement of vehicles. “The proposal is now out for consultation and we are, of course, prepared to listen to the views of the consultative bodies.”
Source: ICELAND NEWS