Centre party calls for petrol car ban by 2025

[Vulpix]

Total, utter, complete lunacy.

The leftists are our enemy within.


TheLocal.se (http://www.thelocal.se/15712/20081115/): Centre party leader Maud Olofsson has called for a total ban on petrol-driven cars by 2025. The party has also called for a tighter eco-car definition and higher carbon taxes. Car-makers have reacted angrily to the plans.

Environment minister Andreas Carlgren has, together with party leader Maud Olofsson and minister colleagues, penned a full-page debate article in Saturday's Dagens Nyheter in which he calls for a dramatic cut in carbon emissions.

The Centre party ministers have laid out a four-point plan to establish Sweden at the forefront of the battle to combat climate change.

The plan includes a ban on fossil-fuel driven cars by 2025 with dramatically higher taxes for thirsty cars in the meantime. A proposed tax exemption for eco classified cars will be available for three-five years with an emissions guideline of 120 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre.

Ethanol-fuelled cars will remain as an eco-car alternative but will be subject to tougher fuel-efficiency regulations, Andreas Carlgren argued as the Centre party meets for its future convention this weekend.

Strong reactions from the troubled Swedish car industry have not been slow in coming however. Saab (http://www.thelocal.se/tag/Saab) Automobile's Anna Petré said to news agency TT that it would be "clumsy of the government" to rush through the tougher regulations just as Saab and Volvo (http://www.thelocal.se/tag/Volvo) were negotiating for state support to enable them to retain production in Sweden.

"Just at the moment it is important for the government to consider employment opportunities," Petré warned.

Volvo's Anders Kärrberg joined Petré is calling for restraint.

"It would be very expensive for us manufacturers to tailor-make models after it," Kärrberg said of Anders Carlgren's proposal.

The ministers' four point plan also calls for an increase in railway investment to expand capacity by 45 percent and strive to meet demand for climate-conscious travel in Sweden.

Furthermore the ministers call for major investment in renewable energy resources and they praised the electricity certificate system that has contributed to an historic wave of investment in the energy sector.

Finally the ministers conclude their plan of action with a call for the encouragement of sustainable residential construction with the prospect of a total ban on the use of fossil fuels to heat homes by 2020.

The Centre party suggests the use of state subsidies to the construction sector, the so-called ROT subsidy, that will be focused on initiatives for efficient energy use.

The ministers underlined that Sweden, as a relatively small country, can not save the world environment all on its own and emphasized the importance of international cooperation to address the challenges faced by the global community.

The ministers concluded that Swedish investment in environmental technology and leadership in the issue is needed to contribute to advances in the developing world and would at the same time be a force for job creation, business and growth.

Together with Maud Olofsson and Andreas Carlgren, the agriculture minister Eskil Erlandsson and infrastructure minister Åsa Torstensson stand behind the proposal.

[DarkZarathustra]

The leftists are our enemy within.
Agreed.

[Skandi]

And just how do they plan to do that? A free car swap for those of us who drive old cars and can't afford a newfangled Eco one?? It always makes me wonder if the governments believe that I drive an elderly, thirsty car by choice??

[Arrow Cross]

Haha, I've never even seen a car that wasn't petrol-driven east here, but I guess we lack the diversity to produce such wonderous devices.

Go Sweden though! :cool:

[Lenny]

17 years is plenty of time to replace all old motors with electric ones. I don't see the problem--unless I were a mechanic who only knew the old engines, then I'd be awful mad..

But hey, Sweden likes wasting tax money so much, I'm sure the government will be "willing" to spend a few million to subsidize a massive replacement of motors without blinking an eye.

I think it's a good idea. Get off of the petroleum addiction, sooner than later.

[Stormraaf]

And just how do they plan to do that? A free car swap for those of us who drive old cars and can't afford a newfangled Eco one?? It always makes me wonder if the governments believe that I drive an elderly, thirsty car by choice??
That is of course where the problem lies. I don't see why most people wouldn't prefer the newer technology, but it would be unreasonable for the Swedish government to force its people into buying new cars or to otherwise tax people who are in all fairness not able to make the purchase. Luckily, my own old, thirsty car would probably be allowed on the third-world roads of SA longer than those of Sweden. By the way, Thrymheim, I liked how you used the word "elderly". :tongue


17 years is plenty of time to replace all old motors with electric ones.
It's not necessarily a question of time, but of the means. :Cash:


I think it's a good idea. Get off of the petroleum addiction, sooner than later.
Agreed, since the Wahhabis owe their riches to oil money.

[SouthernBoy]

Total, utter, complete lunacy.Are you worried your Saab and Volvo shares are going to take a hit? :p

[Vulpix]

Actually they already have :p....


Are you worried your Saab and Volvo shares are going to take a hit? :p

[Skandi]

17 years is plenty of time to replace all old motors with electric ones. .

It's not that long, what is our production capacity, availability of new resources etc, also remember that most plastics used in cars are from the petroleum industry.



I think it's a good idea. Get off of the petroleum addiction, sooner than later.

Not a bad idea but in most countries the majority of electricity is also produced from oil/gas so not going to help really. Equally what will us Petroleum geologists do?? :rolleyes:

[Stormraaf]

Equally what will us Petroleum geologists do?? :rolleyes:
Knit.

[Jimbo Gomez]

I can see other leftist parties in the EU jump on this. If I ever have enough money, I'll import my dream car from the USA: a pink 1950s Cadillac convertible with cowhorns in front of it. Those things probably guzzle more petrol than anything they make these days, so I don't think the Centre Party would approve of my plan. :D

[Jimbo Gomez]

To answer Thrym's question in reputation: those cars look better in that colour. It is the classical colour for such cars.

[Skandi]

For those of you who don't know what I said, I asked why would anyone want it in PINK?

[Lenny]

For those of you who don't know what I said, I asked why would anyone want it in PINK?Some people are just flamboyant like that. :eek: :tongue