In 2024, electric cars have lost market share in favor of gasoline cars and gasoline-powered hybrids.
This could have implications for Sweden’s ability to reach its own and the EU’s long-term climate goals, now warn three researchers from the IVL Swedish Environmental Institute in DN Debate.
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New petrol cars may be forced to scrap
The problem that the IVL researchers see is that a car runs an average of 19 years before it is scrapped.
This means that many cars in Sweden will be dependent on fossil fuels well into the 2040s, which is believed to be in poor agreement with the target set by the EU that emissions from road traffic should be largely zero by 2042.
If the new gasoline cars that are sold today cannot be redirected to run on renewable fuels, it is believed that drastic measures such as “rapid premature scrapping” may be needed.
This means that the cars can be forced to be scrapped even though they are not yet at the end of their life.
Want to see more expensive petrol and diesel
In order to solve the problem that far too few choose to drive an electric car, the IVL researchers want the prices of petrol and diesel to be raised, as well as the vehicle tax on fossil fueled cars to be increased.
They also want to see bonuses reintroduced for those who buy new electric cars. Primarily to smaller, more resource-efficient electric cars.
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Diesel is better than petrol
If one were to promptly buy a new car with a combustion engine today, the IVL researchers believe that a diesel car is preferable to a petrol car.
This is justified by the fact that existing diesel cars can run on renewable diesel without modification.
The same does not apply to petrol cars, as for these there is a lack of renewable, alternative fuels that can be used without modification of the engine or fuel systems.
According to the IVL researchers, the criticism against diesel cars that they release harmful exhaust gases is not a big problem with the most modern cars.
They point to their own tests which show that the exhaust gases from a modern diesel car are no more dangerous than the exhaust gases from a petrol car.
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