Parking permit surcharge to force diesel cars off the roads
Owners of diesel cars face higher charges for annual parking permits in major cities amid growing concern over their effect on air quality.
tinyurl.com/4nxdbzn (Links to The Telegragh)
The report said the Government should encourage “small, modern petrol vehicles, petrol hybrids and electric vehicles in urban areas in place of diesel vehicles”.
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Great to hear, having just ordered a new diesel :-(
I can only hope the fuel duty and VED aren't targeted in future.
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Will there be a plan to convert all trucks, busses, construction plant to petrol power?
Or is it a creative money making scam?
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You old cynic ON don't know how you could come to that conclusion of councillors and polticians who are surely above question.
I'll believe the polution argument when I see all Hackney carriages and buses running on E10.
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and when we have all switched back to petrol, the cost of petrol will go through the roof and there will be a shortage of petrol because we use so much more of it than diesel !
I think its stinks of what suits them this week ! how about all the diesel trains and buses and lorries charge them all extra for where ever they are parked whether it be an engine shed etc ! Its about time they reduce emissions from all the countries around the world big time before they start picking on every last little puff!
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Isn't this the whole reason we have diesel particulate filters?
Frankly, I miss the opportunity to empty all the cack from the exhaust over the car behind on a motorway slip road.
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A parked diesel cannot be emiting any more exhaust emisions than a hyper effiecient petrol powered super-mini when the engine is off.
Getting the car to the parking place is surely when the car would be causing the problem so why get rid of the western extension of the charge zone if that is the case?
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Missing the point behind this guys.
A tanker on the ocean running on barely refined oil emits crazy amounts of particulate matter, but, the PM doesn't travel far, just like in cities the particulate matter emitted near ground / sea level doesn't travel far.
That's fine when all you can see around you is the deep blue. Not so good when all you can see is people in a space enclosed by tall buildings.
I saw this the other day but thought better of posting it, don't want to give diesel too hard a time. If they apply it to road tax or fuel etc. It's a step too far. Diesel has a, and should retain for now, a leading place is this country's transport requirements.
Getting it out of cities and onto motorways is a step to be welcomed though.
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Electric is the way to go if they are serious about PM.
Petrol is as useless as diesel when cold. The cat does nothing 'til it's warmed up which is when the usual city journey is at an end.
Last edited by: gmac on Sun 27 Mar 11 at 21:27
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Electric won't take off until either we have enough nuclear supply or fuel cells become workable. I'm happy they're solving it's problems already and exploring new ways of using it, and it does seem a strong candidate for the future. Maybe by the time I'd consider one it'll have all the problems solved.
If oil ran out tomorrow I'd probably be more interested in fitting a new cylinder head and running hydrogen (if battery power were feasible i.e. there's enough leccy to run a nations cars Then there's enough to produce hydrogen cheaply) or one of the biofuels.
A lot of modern petrols come with pre-cats, those emission tests cover the cold cycle these days. Mine has one.
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Pre-cat is a fudge similar to DPF in a diesel.
If you've got any form of intelligent variable valve timing that does exhaust gas scavenging then when the ceramic of the pre-cat starts to break down you get sharp bits of pre-cat sucked back in which scores and scratches.
I am considering an electric car for SWMBO when the lease is up the current car early next year. Longest journey is about 50 miles out to the airport and back and we have my diseasal for the serious long hauls.
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I saw a Tesla Roadster on the M3 on Friday. Tonking along at 90+ while the rest of us were in fuel save mode.
The first time I've seen an "eco car" and felt a really, genuinely tangible pang of jealousy.
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And of course most PMs in Kensington & Chelsea will have been emitted by buses and cabs as opposed to private cars ...
Yet another council saying "Do as I say, not as I do"
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Bit blinkered again though, if the cars were 4 up, or even 2 up there's maybe a case, but if the bus is 10 up (yeah right, free seats in London? How come I never get one :-P), that's tipping in the bus's favour.
You wouldn't stop transport to reduce the problem so what's the low hanging fruit...
It's not as if they're not trying with the buses, did they not go back and retrofit DPF filters to most buses that didn't have them?
Walking past the stationary traffic at the traffic lights between black friars & victoria embankment in the morning, it's not buses that jump out as the effective target.
Having said that it's not really cars either, delivery vans and construction traffic from memory seems more squeezable. Different area right enough but not a world away.
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Diesel private cars are virtually banned in Hong Kong, Taxis and Minibuses are all LPG, mind you just about everything else on the road is a V6 or V8 petrol and Porche Cayenne's, Audi Q7s ant their ilk are very popular.
Air quality is appalling, possibly due to pollution blown down from southern China where all the manufacturing has moved but not helped by traffic and congestion, interestingly there is up to 100% import duty on private cars, I've seen a few Teslas around the place and the govt is encouraging hybrid / zev cars. Public transportation is excellent too.
I have to admit that with DPFs I thought diesels were relatively clean these days ? Might I suggest that the only answer is to ban private cars from city centres all together, mind you we'd need to invest in public transport to enable that and no-one appears to want to do that in the UK even when the money is available.
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Its just one knee jerk reaction after another.
Strapping catalytic convertors onto petrol cars and putting DPFs onto diesels. I wish they'd make up their minds! Maybe we should have concentrated on producing smaller, more powerful petrol units instead of just adding a cat onto the exhaust?
I bought a diesel recently and my decision was greatly influenced by the act I wanted an automatic - a petrol one would have been expensive to tax compared to the diesel equivalent. So the now the Co2/climate change con is wearing a bit thin they have to find another tax!
When we're all running about in G-whizzes I daresay they'll be a new 'deathtrap' tax.
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Owning a diesel might cost you more to park - Manatee
