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Free parking for electric cars axed - for being too successful
David Williams, Motoring Editor24.06.08
A pioneering scheme that rewards owners of electric vehicles with free parking is being scrapped - because it works too well.
Since 2001, the City of London has issued free roadside parking passes to nearly 500 drivers of the zero-emission cars in a bid to encourage other people to buy one. It has also handed out 539 permits for free parking in its car parks.
But both schemes are being axed or scaled down, because commuters are adding to congestion by using the cars instead of walking, cycling or travelling by public transport.
The car park scheme will be scrapped from the end of this year, forcing owners of electric cars already registered with it to pay £2,000 for an annual permit next year. This will increase to £4,000 in 2010 and to £6,396 - the same as everyone else pays - in 2011.
Owners of electric cars registering for the first time will not get any discount.
Similarly, only those who currently hold free on-street parking permits for electric cars will continue to enjoy this privilege. Newcomers will have to pay the standard charge of £4 an hour at meters.
Today the Nice car company, which has sold 300 Mega City electric vehicles - mostly to Londoners - said that while other councils were launching initiatives to boost sales of electric vehicles the City had "gone into reverse".
Co-founder Julian Wilford said: "The reasons are plain daft. The corporation says free parking encourages people to use electric cars. Surely that's the point. It has nothing to do with improving the environment and everything to do with financial gain."
In a letter to Nice, Paul Symons, the City's assistant traffic manager, said: "These vehicles are now a common sight in the City. The corporation is, however, concerned the free parking has encouraged car use instead of the use of public transport, walking and cycling and does not consider this to be desirable in the highly congested traffic conditions in the City."
Harrow, Islington and Sutton offer free parking for electric vehicles. Kingston, Sutton and Wandsworth offer free recharging at electric points and Sutton also offers free parking in council car parks. Westminster has nearly 60 charging points and offers free parking in payanddisplay bays and a 98 per cent discount at its car parks.
Reader views (21)
So not only have you forked out thousands for an electric car, you are now no longer better off than if you kept your petrol car! How did the corporation come to the logic of offering free parking for electric cars in the hope that it'll encourage people walk and cycle and use the already over crowded sub standard public transport system?
Presumably, they'll increase the cost of travel with a commuter congestion charge and a pavement tax to prevent too many people using the city's public transport and thoroughfare.
- Jonathan, London
Listen to Mac-100% on the money.
- Anna Moreno, luxembourg
As Stuart said I can remember when the government wanted us to switch to diesel powered cars Diesel was considerably cheaper then and people switched in their thousands. Guess what happened then - yep they put up the price of diesel to match petrol and we now have a situation where it is considerably more expensive. If I had been conned, yes conned not persuaded, to buy one of these vehicles then I would now be suing the person responsible for deciding me and all the other people who fell for the CON. I wasn't that odious little man Livingston was it by any chance. It has his MO all over it. Just look at public transport in London. He prices you out of your car then proceeds to make public transport the most expensive in the world. Greed and nothing else.
- Duncan Walker, Ex Peckham now Samui Thailand
The same thing happened when they persuaded people to use motor bikes and scooters. Pure greed.
- Bob, London
When are people going to realise that anything that the government does under the green banner is just another way to make money? If TFL were that concerned about air pollution, just by banning cars in London for one Thursday a month would cut pollution more than a year of congestion charge would!
They fooled you with diesel, they are now fooling you with electric cars, and rubbish statistics. People wake up! They have an over budget Olympics to pay for so they will do anything! Look out for the £25 congestion charge, with a reduced charge for Hybrids as they still have a petrol engine, charge for motorbikes, cyclist license fees, to cover "injury insurance", and a £5 charge for electric cars.
Meanwhile lets all get on overcrowded and overheated tube that isn't running after 12am so sod going out in London in it on a Friday night and pay a ridiculous price for the pleasure.
Bad times for everyone ahead me thinks, if we are going to save the world lets all pull together and do it, but I fear there are too many people around who just want to make a good profit in making us go "Green".
- Mac, Expensive London
It never was about the environment. That whole issue's just been whipped up as an excuse to spy, tax and control.
- James, London
If you have a vehicle, you are going to use it. That is what it is for. it is not an ornament.
The whole idea is to reduce the pollution and encourage small vehicles.
So as is so typical in this joke of a country, when something actually works, it is scuppered in such a way as to kill off the momentum of the idea.
Probably another kickback from a fuel company to put down a good idea.
...and we have the cheek to condemn corruption and incompetence in places like Zimbabwe. We should look a little closer here first.
- Mike Brandt, London UK
This is ludicrous! But Ken Livingstone's gone, right? No... Left!
What? A system that works, being scrapped? ony Blair's not involved is he? No, he's earning a fortune (of taxpayer's money) being a Middle East Envoy or some other such nonsense!
Is Paul Symons (the City's assistant traffic manager) perhaps related to Gordon Brown?
But then again, why save the environment when you can pack people unhealthily on the tube like sardines or on other public transport vehicles when we currently have such a crappy public transport system? Oh I know why, because Cabinet Ministers and MPs take taxis and have their expenses reimbursed!
Jolly good then, that all make perfectly clear sense to martians!
- Fraser, Telford Park
This is funny.
Some people says London need more money for 2012 Olympics?
Now we can see where from they coming.
- Les, London UK
If 20% of the cars in London were replaced by these funny little electric vehicles, the roads would be materially less congested, irrespective of the impact on carbon emissions. Yet in reality, there are fewer than 10 electric car in each of the Corporation's 4 car parks on an average day. Take-up is steady, but very slow. A few hundred are in use in London overall, a tiny percentage of overall traffic. Yet even this small progress now risks being reversed. When an electric car becomes uneconomical, the owners will likely revert to driving gas-guzzlers into the City. There are plenty of places to park for less than the £4000 per annum that a Corporation Permit will cost for 2010. You could always find a private car park for £2000, sell the second-hand G-Wizz for £3000, and use the savings to pay the congestion charge on the Aston Martin.
- Kit, London
Walk to work - then they can tax your shoes and socks!
- Ian Heritage, Melbourne, Australia
What do these councils and the government actually want us to do?!
- Adam, London, UK
Six thousand pounds? That's more than I ever paid in rent for a fair-sized apartment in Chicago or anywhere else in the U.S. I guess if I ever come out to London I'll be using public transport!
- Mike, Pennsylvania, USA
This is all about money and greed. Those electric cars use very little space. The administrators who made this decision should be put in jail. Everybody in England knows that the whole congestion-tax thing has been a complete failure by incompetent officials.
- Steve Ballmer, Redmond USA
Now we see the real reason behind green initiatives. Tax raising again.
- Stephen Rowson, Crowthorne, Berkshire
I m puzzled as to how on earth the City's traffic manager has come to that conclusion. What proof does he have? The people that have bought these cars in a genuine effort to help the environment have been shafted and promises have been broken. It should not be allowed. Many years ago I was persuaded to buy a Diesel car because of both fuel and price economy. How stupid was I?
- Stuart, london UK
Many people will have bought these cars on the basis of the free parking and congestion charge exemption. Will the City of London be refunding them?
- Ljw, london
The corporation is really concerned about revenue, as stated: "Co-founder Julian Wilford said: "The reasons are plain daft. The corporation says free parking encourages people to use electric cars. Surely that's the point. It has nothing to do with improving the environment and everything to do with financial gain."
The Corporation lacked foresight in making the "free parking". What a mess, another broken promise!
- Mack Easton, Atlanta GA USA
A victim of their own success! They encourage something, it works and then they scrap it - go figure!?
- Sandra, London
It's all about money - firstly they attack most cars, as an excuse to get more money out of drivers: they set up patsies like owners of electric cars as the 'good guys' for a short period. Then they shut the trap door once you've got them and suddenly you, as well, are the villains (but of course it's just about revenue raising, nothing else). Watch out for the inevitable development of extortionate rates for recharging at electric points (which will be described as 'the going market rate' and 'adopted after consultation'...). Other boroughs will be watching this latest development with glee and when they do it as well, they will tell you that it has 86% acceptance among stakeholders, having spent a lot of our money asking loaded questions to get the result they want.
- Damian Hockney, London, UK
This is just typical of the corporation of London: poor service, money grabbing and backward on their thinking. Why haven't they been abolished?
- Josh, london
