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Thursday: Sunny everywhere but high cloud will hide the sun at times. Max 15º. Rain on Friday |
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Sales, road tax scrapped for electric carsFriday 03 July 2009 People who buy an electric car will no longer have to pay sales or road tax under new plans to stimulate electric motoring drawn up by transport minister Camiel Eurlings and economic affairs minister Maria van der Hoeven. Ministers want the Netherlands to function as an international testing ground for electric transport and have agreed to put €65m into the project, Nos tv reports on Friday. The money will also be used to stimulate companies to buy electric vehicles. According to news agency ANP, Europe's first approved electric car - the Norwegian THINK City, costs €40,000, of which some €10,00 is due to the cost of the battery. 'The Netherlands is extremely suitable for electric motoring because of the short distances, flat roads and good electricity provision,' the cabinet was quoted as saying in a statement. The cabinet has set a target of one million electric cars in the Dutch fleet within 15 years. © DutchNews.nl Get the DutchNews.nl newsletter in your mailbox: Click here to subscribe
to Todd: maybe you're right, but if you think people will ever give up cars, you are naive. In the States, right now gas costs around $2.70 a gallon. I've heard in Europe it's about $8.- a gallon! But this doesn't stop people from driving. Let's face it: most people don't like public transport. They will only use it when they have no driver's license, or can't afford a car. And bicycles are impractical for long distances. By Keith Beker | July 4, 2009 8:17 AM Just for the USA doesn't wish to get off the oil tit does not mean the rest of the world is not willing to get rid of petroleum powered vehicles. Los Angeles is famous for it's movie stars and traffic generated smog. As for the Nazi claim, the USA has a loyal following to the madman Hitler with thousands marching and celebrating his birthday. This news is fantastic for it will stimulate new designs and usher in new technologies. The USA is spending billions to save it's pathetic auto industry that failed to remember the oil crisis in the 1970's. Odd/even gas days? But your great speech reader "Reagan" killed the 55 MPH limit and gave billions to the failing auto industry... and what did they do? They killed the 4 cylinder auto in favor of the huge V8?! It does not take a scientist to learn from the past and see the clear path to a cleaner future. Todd, please do not come to Europe and fester in your polluted state that can NOT pay it's bills. Oh but it's another "movie actor politician" killing California. Maybe you might want to move to Mexico City? By Paul Martin | July 4, 2009 12:24 PM I agree with Todd about congestion and parking. The solution of no Tax will be temporary one and eventually drivers will have to pay for road maintenance use of energy to produce electricity. I believe Holland will have to build new power stations to supply the new demand and so forth. By Al | July 5, 2009 7:53 AM Place your comments: |
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Even if the electricity was generated by imprisoned Dutch Neo-Nazis on stationary bikes, or simply from smiles on the street, this proposal does (worse than) nothing to address the main problem, which is not car technology, but how cars are used. In other words - and this should be painfully obvious - it will do nothing to reduce congestion, parking problems and other space issues of cars.
This is just more private cars!
... and this is ridiculous! I am from Los Angeles, did not even ride a proper train til I was 15 nor a commuter bike til I was 20, and I seem to know more than the Dutch government about sustainable transport.
By Todd | July 3, 2009 4:05 PM