For years, cars have been getting bigger and bigger, partly due to the ever increasing popularity of SUVs. Now, France has decided to fight back against these "useless" and "absurd" vehicles in towns.
Earlier this year, OGN reported on Why You Shouldn't Buy and SUV, even if it's electric. In summary, if SUVs were a country, they would rank as the sixth most polluting in the world.
They require more materials to build, resulting in higher CO2 emissions in the manufacturing process; and, because they are so large, consume 20 percent more fuel (causing yet higher CO2 emissions).
Electric SUVs aren't the solution. The manufacturing emissions of such over-sized vehicles remain unchanged, whilst "electric SUVs also require larger batteries to power them, so a growing electric SUV market would impose additional pressure on battery supply chains and further increase demand for the critical minerals needed to make the batteries," says the IEA.
Some experts, like economic historian and degrowth expert Matthias Schmelzer, have called for an outright ban on non-essential SUVs, reports Ecowatch. He pointed to a recent Financial Times article finding that SUVs and light trucks now made up four fifths of U.S. car new sales.
Of course, SUVs are also growing in popularity in Europe. They are disparagingly called Chelsea tractors in London. Now, France has decided to try and do something about what it calls urban auto-besity. Paris is planning to reduce pollution by driving SUVs out of the city with new premium parking rates. The ‘progressive parking’ measures will take effect from January 2024. They will account for vehicle size, weight and the type of motor.
David Belliard, a deputy mayor responsible for mobility and public spaces, tweeted that the proposals also aimed to improve road safety following a 60 percent increase in the number of SUVs in Paris over the last four years. “An absurdity!” he said. “These vehicles are useless in town and more dangerous.”
Officials said that the bulky motors now make up 15 percent of the 1.15 million private vehicles parked in Paris every evening, The Guardian reported.
Grenboble is en route to introducing a similar initiative, and Lyon has already announced higher parking rates for heavier vehicles, also due in 2024. The only issue that authorities are pondering, is whether to give concessions to large families with large electric cars, reports The Telegraph.
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