Renew your fleet
You tackle the following challenges:
That's how you do it
You can expect that renewal of the vehicle fleet will have beneficial effects on air pollution from traffic. The exact size of that effect depends on the local replacement rate. In addition, you must have procedures in place to prevent users from reselling or continuing to use their old cars. Existing programs seem rather successful, although precisely because of this success they soon have to contend with a lack of funds.
Model studies show that financial incentives help lower the concentration of certain pollutants in the air thanks to reduced emissions.
Possible incentivesto renew the fleet are:
- scrapping premiums
- differential tax rates at purchase, depending on how much pollution the car causes
- national tax exemptions
- income tax rebates
- non-tax incentives for less polluting vehicles.
When you impose emission standards and let vehicle manufacturers invest in cleaner technologies, you can significantly reduce pollution from traffic. We will have to wait for the effects of those measures, because the vehicle fleet in Europe is only renewed every ten years on average. You can speed up this process with financial premiums. Model studies cautiously show that the concentration of certain pollutants in the air decreases to a limited extent as more vehicles run on clean fuel, precisely due to lower emissions.
- Particulate matter (PM) : German and French fleet renewal programs show that particulate matter emissions decreased by approximately 2.4% and 0.9% respectively. The lower impact in France is partly due to the growing share of diesel vehicles (the main source of particulate matter) in the renewed fleet. Italian programs show regional declines as high as 16%.
- Nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) : With the current vehicle fleet, the reduction in NO x emissions is estimated to be about 3% in Germany and 1% in France. In Italy there is a regional reduction of up to 4%.
Renewing the fleet offers other advantages :
- When consumers make higher spending, it gives the economy a boost
- Better road safety thanks to newer technologies
- More fuel savings and better performance
- Lower maintenance costs
- Less greenhouse gas emissions
- An opportunity to raise public awareness of the importance of air quality
Knowing more
National financial stimulation program with scrapping premium
Germany, France, Great Britain - 2009
Several European countries introduced programs to accelerate the renewal of their vehicle fleet. The German scrapping premium for cars older than 9 years led to the renewal of 1.8 million cars. The French program for cars older than 10 years awarded a cash premium regardless of the CO 2 emissions of the new car. In the UK, the government and the car industry funded a program for cars over 10 years old. About 300,000 customers received a cash bonus. In the three programs it was found that buyers mainly opted for cheaper and smaller cars.
Local stimulation with scrapping premium
Utrecht, Netherlands - 2015
Residents of the environmental zone of the city of Utrecht are entitled to a subsidy if they replace their old car.
Regional stimulation with scrapping premium
Italy - 2009
A pilot study was carried out in 5 Italian regions to estimate how emissions would decrease if the government grants financial incentives for new cars. The researchers found a decrease of approximately 4% for NOx and 16% for PM10. The decrease in SO 2 emissions turned out to be minimal. ( D'Elia et al., 2009 )
Modeling use of clean fuel vehicles
Leeds, UK - 2005
Researchers set up models for the city of Leeds. Replacing 11% of the conventional vehicle fleet with clean fuel vehicles would reduce emissions of all pollutants except NO 2 . [ Mitchell (2005) & Mitchell, et al. (2005) ]
Modeling financial premiums
Europe - 1999
A passenger transport model investigated the effect of fuel tax in combination with differential tax rates when purchasing the car. The researchers showed that the combination of these measures proves to be a cost-effective solution to reduce emissions of CO 2 and other air pollutants ( Jansen, et al. 1999 ).
More information
- An interesting comparative study on fleet renewals in Europe and the US: Car Fleet Renewal Schemes: Environmental and Safety Impacts, International Transport Forum, OECD.
Subsidy Scheme Electric Passenger Cars for Private Individuals (SEPP) (RIVM, the Netherlands)
