Paris has hiked parking expenses on SUVs. Now cities like London are taking word

Parisians have voted to hike parking charges on massive SUVs — and it is not the one European metropolis to set its sights on heavier, extra polluting vehicles.

At a referendum in Paris final month, almost 55% voted in favor of a particular parking fee for sports activities utility autos (SUVs) for non-residents. With a turnout fee of 5.7%, nonetheless, the ballot represented solely a small proportion of the capital’s electoral record.

The measure will see drivers pay as much as 18 euros ($19.54) an hour to park within the middle of Paris, and 12 euros an hour within the wider metropolis. The upper expenses will apply to SUVs weighing greater than 1.6 metric tons which can be hybrid or have a combustion engine, in addition to electrical SUVs weighing over 2 metric tons.

In line with Jens Müller, deputy director and head of coverage and analysis on the Clear Cities marketing campaign group, “what happens in Paris usually doesn’t stay in Paris.”

He advised CNBC that there is a excessive probability of different cities following go well with, and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo agrees, saying following the vote: “Parisians have made a clear choice … other cities will follow.”

It comes as SUV gross sales proceed to surge, with the Worldwide Vitality Company noting that “the shift towards heavier and less fuel-efficient conventional vehicles increases growth in both oil demand and CO₂ emissions.” World carbon emissions from the vehicles neared 1 billion tons in 2022, in accordance with the IEA.  

SUVs stay widespread due to their extra seating, space for storing and better driver place. In the meantime, Edmund King, president of the U.Ok.’s AA, advised the Times that there have been “valid safety reasons why cars have got bigger.”

“Vehicle safety has improved substantially and much is down to Euro NCAP, [a safety standard] which means modern vehicles have crumple zones, pedestrian protection and numerous airbags, which all add to size,” he mentioned.

Nonetheless, knowledge signifies that many of those bigger vehicles are registered to houses in city areas — inflicting an issue in already-crowded cities. An analysis of recent automotive registrations within the U.Ok. by the marketing campaign group Badvertising in 2021 confirmed that three-quarters of SUVs offered in 2019-20 have been registered to city addresses.

And cities in Europe are beginning to take word.

The Paris vote adopted within the footsteps of fellow French metropolis Lyon, which has already announced a similar policy. Its plans to introduce larger parking expenses for heavier autos which is because of come into pressure next June.

French metropolis Grenoble, in the meantime, has already carried out a higher environmental tariff in car parks for heavier autos, and a spokesperson from the mayor’s workplace in Bordeaux advised CNBC that the town and the mayor are “at the reflection stage on the subject of taxing SUVs.”

In Germany, the southern metropolis of Tübingen carried out a six-fold increase in the price of an annual resident parking permits to 180 euros for combustion-engine vehicles weighing over 1.8 metric tons. Whereas the mayor of Hanover, Belit Onay, advised CNBC following the Paris vote that his metropolis would “also have to face the question of how we deal with vehicles that take up more space.” 

It is a nod to the truth that air pollution is not the one potential subject with SUVs, with area and security additionally of concern. Marketing campaign group Transport & Atmosphere — which runs the Clear Cities Marketing campaign — has found that new vehicles in Europe are getting 1cm wider each two years on common. The group mentioned that giant luxurious SUVs, with a width of round 200cm, now depart too little area for individuals to get out and in of different autos in typical off-street parking areas.

In the meantime, a study by the Vias Institute in Belgium, launched in August, discovered that the danger of deadly accidents will increase by 30% if a pedestrian or bicycle owner is hit by a automotive with a hood that’s 10cm larger than common.  

Previous to the Paris referendum, London Mayor Sadiq Khan instructed that he would be keeping an eye on the effectiveness of the policies. Nonetheless, a spokesperson for Khan mentioned through e mail that the mayor doesn’t have the ability to introduce an SUV parking cost, nor does he have plans to take action. 

The strikes in continental Europe may very well be of explicit curiosity to the U.Ok., with Transport & Atmosphere noting that the nation taxes petrol SUVs at a a lot decrease fee than different international locations in Europe. The marketing campaign group mentioned that this might make the U.Ok. a “tax haven” for these bigger, extra polluting vehicles.

It comes as U.Ok. gross sales of SUVs proceed to surge, up by greater than a fifth between 2022 and 2023, according to research from T&E, with SUVs accounting for 60% of all new automotive registrations final yr. The group warned that this might “blow a hole” in U.Ok. carbon targets, given most are petrol and diesel, hybrids or plug-in hybrid autos.

Rezina Chowdhury, deputy chief for London’s Lambeth council, advised CNBC that she had been “watching with excitement, what happened in Paris.” 

She defined that London’s Lambeth Council had launched emissions-based charging final yr and that the following step would taking a look at charges primarily based on dimension. “It just feels wrong that in a city, that you have these massive vehicles,” Chowdhury mentioned.