We've got two cars as a family. A 2011 petrol Honda Civic, tiny engine, and a 2009 Kia something (fuuck knows what model it is, some tinny crap. Small). We've had them both since they were new. No new cars for over 12 years. I'm willing to wager a massive sum that isn't more polluting than someone who has an electric car and changes their car every 4 years. Have you seen the emissions in generating a new electric car battery? Wow I just think the whole thing is mental. Surely the most environmentally harmful people are those who buy new cars every couple of years? The environmental damage of new cars must massively outweigh negligible emissions differences over small mileages?
But they don't scrap the car after 4 years, someone else gets it. The emissions in battery manufacturing are nothing in comparison to those in the petrochemical industry.
Have you checked your cars and seen if they are exempt though? We have a 15 year old (Mazda 2) and a 17 year old (Citreon C3) car and both are exempt so I doubt either of yours would fall under the charge.
Yes I live in London zone 4 and was mighty surprised to be told my 2011 Ford was 'helping to improving air quality' and I didn't need to pay ULEZ.
Anyone who has to pay must be driving genuinely highly polluting cars and probably should change/convert them if they can afford to do so. Obviously, that’s easier said than done and there should be a very good scrappage/conversion scheme to make it affordable as potentially those who own them are the least likely to be able to afford a new car.
My wife’s volvo v40 cross country diesel is zero road tax rated due to how low it’s emissions are. She’d have to pay ulez in London for it. My Nissan X-Trail diesel is not zero rated, the tax is about £175 a year so not that high but still, not tax free on emissions. It’s ulez exempt. It’s a little newer but the emissions to my knowledge are higher. Yet apparently mine meets euro 6 standards and hers doesn’t. We will never drive in London anyway as if we go we tend to go on the train, just skirted round when in the car to go to Legoland - but ulez is all a little convoluted.
An electric cars battery has a life of about 6 years… my knowledge of this subject is somewhat limited so correct me if I’m wrong. After this time, the battery may only have 50% left of its original life from a charge up, which will represent maybe 120 miles only. There will therefore be large amounts for recycling as this limited distance won’t be practical to most people. Have we got a recycling system for these old batteries as they’ll contain lithium and other chemicals etc that won’t be able to be recycled by the normal way.
Don’t really know what that means but there must be some plans cos there’s going to be many thousands of them kicking about in 5-10 years.
I feel for folk who have bought an electric car in the last couple of years privately. Great amounts of negative equity as the market is flooded with ex rental/company vehicles from their 4 year terms concluding. On the other hand, petrol/diesel vehicles are doing just fine with the buoyant used market with positive equity positions. (It might be worth digging out your settlement figures and getting a valuation to see your current position EV owners!)