What are the Government really doing, to help the country move away from Diesel vehicles etc. ?

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MrEarl

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Hi,

Does anyone know if Richard Bruton has rolled out a policy (or even, dare I suggest it, legislation) to enure that all Government Departments and State owned companies only buy electric vehicles, going forward ?​

It seems to me to be a fairly obviously one, if the government are supposed to be leading by example, and are serious about trying to meet 2030 targets. (cough * no one mention how far away we are from meeting 2020 targets, and the likely fines we're going to incur as a result * cough).

The Government could also go absolutely "mad" and:
  • ban the importation of second hand diesel vehicles (regardless of how late they'd be in doing this, better now than never),
  • remove the historic benefits to having diesel engine cars, such as cheaper road tax and fuel.

Notwithstanding the wonderful plan announced by Richard Bruton a couple of months ago, I'm not convinced that the Government are really doing anything even close to what they need to be doing, to help deal with the problem of our omissions levels, our over reliance on certain fossil fuels etc.

So, in addition to the above, my question to fellow members of AAM is this, what are the Government really doing, to help move the country away from Diesel vehicles etc ?
 
More is certainly required to discourage diesel use where it is not really required, but there are fairly generous incentives in-place for electric vehicles to try and tempt people away from them -
  • €600 grant for home charger
  • 50-75% off tolls
  • €120 road tax
  • €5000 grant off a new EV
  • €5000 off VRT on a new or imported EV
  • 0% BIK on the first €50k
  • ACA to allow businesses write-off in year one
  • Small portion of the VAT can be reclaimed
  • Free on-street charging
 
Think the free charging ended last month. I would not assume any of the other incentives to be permanent.
 
Personally I think buying an electric motor vehicle at the moment is bordering on insanity. Sure, the world and its mother knows all about the state of the environment and the trouble coming down the road, isn't it all over the media every second of every day and night so there can be no lies or mistruths whatsoever in that? Alas, the electric vehicle is in the baby stage, as are the parts and everything else involved in it. In a years time, there's be more known and they'll be a little bit better, same in a year after that, etc, etc, etc. So, how much is the vehicle you buy today worth in a couple of years time? Oh dear, it'll be out of date, so will its battery and everything else as well. Goverments and politicians are wonderful at grooming the public, media like doing it as well, the millenials and greens plus the snowflakes cuddle up to one another as well, keeps them warm and on the same wavelength, helps them shout louder and everything else our green friends in radio and television love as well. Result being, that's all you're going to hear in the positive sense. Bunkum and balderdash I say. Just wait until everyone is told, no more diesel or petrol vehicles can be sold, no more quick deliveries by lorries, no more , no more, no more, they'll shout and then they'll be bye bye daisy's. Si I say, go ahead buy your electric toy and look at its worthless value in a years time or thereabouts.

As for Zenith 63 and his above post with all the grants and vat back and free this that and the other? Oh my dear boy, what a shock you're in for when the powers that be have all you ducks in a row, that shock won't come from free electricity, but from an age old trick. Go on, have a guess? Thought you would, now go and put that in your pipe and have a good smoke! Enjoy.
 
odyssey06 said:
Think the free charging ended last month. I would not assume any of the other incentives to be permanent.
Click to expand...
On-street chargers are still free, motorway fast chargers no longer are. But absolutely none of these are permanent, they’re incentives for early adopters while EVs are still too expensive to make economical sense for most people. Was just detailing one of the things the government is doing as MrEarl asked for...
 
Diesel mightn't be the worst choice in terms of CO2. To the best of my knowledge it beats petrol on CO2 emissions when looked at from a MPG or litres per 100km point of view.
I know it scores badly from the NOx point of view. But even from this angle I was looking at Renaults website and some of their diesel engines are now Euro 6 which they claim only emit 50% of the NOx emissions of the previous Euro standard engines.
Also from looking at the Renault website, car manufacturers aren't really serious about selling electric cars to anyone who need to do much more than 250km without needing a charge.
 
Renault may not be serious about selling electric cars to people who need to do more than 250km with out a charge because that's the Range of the older Zoe. Kia and Hyundai would happily cover you for 400km.
 
I commute mostly by bike in Dublin, I find it a bit depressing that diesels are unlikely to be banned for the rest of my career and therefore commuting by bike! Ban them I say.

unfortunately governments are not really cut out to do the necessary on the environment.

my 13 year old cycles to school the odd day, he complains of Finding it hard to breath because of the fumes, particularly around 2 schools enroute where cars are parked up droppo off kids to school...
 
A few areas in Dublin nearly breached EU air pollution limits in 2019, if that happens legislation will force councils etc to come up with a plan to solve it ASAP. So maybe we can hope for a bit more pollution this year to give the government a bit of a kick!

The same EPA report also advises carrying children if near busy roads to avoid pollution. Pretty astounding for the EPA to be recommending something like that, while we twiddle our thumbs and take little to no action.
 
I am a month back from South Africa with a population of around 56 million. Big 3L and 4L diesel everywhere.Plastic bags etc everywhere etc etc.
A while back was in Beijing pollution unreal. China opening coal mines on a weekly basis.

All for the environment do have children but until this is tackled at a much higher comprehensive level cycling to work in the Irish weather, changing a few light bulbs is not going to do much.
I know and do my bit recycling etc. But have to say the places I go just makes me feel anything I do is a complete waste of time.
Best in the class might be popular but go to Beijing or the likes of South Africa and ask are we really kidding ourselves.
No I dont know the answers but I do know as it stands were wasting our time. Depressing.
 
There’s certainly an argument that when it comes to climate change the whole world needs to weigh in to make a big difference. But when it comes to air pollution it’s different; pollutants like NOx, PM, benzene etc are all highly localised (like down to a few meters in some cases!). If all vehicles switched to zero emission in Dublin City centre say, it would make virtually no difference to climate to change, but it would make night and day difference to localised air pollution and hence the people of Dublin.
 
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KOW said:
I am a month back from South Africa with a population of around 56 million. Big 3L and 4L diesel everywhere.Plastic bags etc everywhere etc etc.
A while back was in Beijing pollution unreal. China opening coal mines on a weekly basis.

All for the environment do have children but until this is tackled at a much higher comprehensive level cycling to work in the Irish weather, changing a few light bulbs is not going to do much.
I know and do my bit recycling etc. But have to say the places I go just makes me feel anything I do is a complete waste of time.
Best in the class might be popular but go to Beijing or the likes of South Africa and ask are we really kidding ourselves.
No I dont know the answers but I do know as it stands were wasting our time. Depressing.
Click to expand...
I am not trying to solve global warming etc, it would just be nice to not to have to inhale mouthfuls of diesel fumes everyday
 
Zenith63 said:
A few areas in Dublin nearly breached EU air pollution limits in 2019, if that happens legislation will force councils etc to come up with a plan to solve it ASAP. So maybe we can hope for a bit more pollution this year to give the government a bit of a kick!

The same EPA report also advises carrying children if near busy roads to avoid pollution. Pretty astounding for the EPA to be recommending something like that, while we twiddle our thumbs and take little to no action.
Click to expand...
Like the financial crisis the best outcome can be some external (and less polictised) body telling our politicians what to do
 
Zenith63 said:
There’s certainly an argument that when it comes to climate change the whole world needs to weigh in to make a big difference. But when it comes to air pollution it’s different; pollutants like NOx, PM, benzene etc are all highly localised (like down to a few meters in some cases!). If all vehicles switched to zero emission in Dublin City centre say, it would make virtually no difference to claim to change, but it would make night and day difference to localised air pollution and hence the people of Dublin.
Click to expand...
100%

do something we have some control over

after 20+ years of commuting in dublin, it’s pretty clear to me everyone would be better off if more people cycled

i think irs analogous to smoking years ago

it should be socially unacceptable to drive a diesel oil burner taking up space every day in and out of work if alternatives are possible
 
I was out walking in Swords against the traffic just after 9 am on Thursday I counted 313 people in 300 cars lots of diesel cars there must be some who could have shared and used public transport for last part of there journey,
What is the ratio of cars/vans to passengers in city center on average,
We have to come up with a way of increasing passenger numbers per car journey in our City's,
 
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Cameo said:
I am not trying to solve global warming etc, it would just be nice to not to have to inhale mouthfuls of diesel fumes everyday
Click to expand...

I regularly travel to part of London that's in the "Ultra Low Emission Zone". It's been transformed for the better. Roads are safer, air is better, lots of parking spaces converted to on-street charging points. I have even seen kids on bikes playing in the streets at the weekends, for the first time in my lifetime. There are now quite a lot of electric vehicles, BUT beware what you wish for. The electric vehicles are very dangerous for the many pedestrians and cyclists because they don't make any noise. You really have to have your wits about you. And don't forget around one-fifth of UK electricity is generated from nuclear, only about one-third is from renewables, though of course, that is better than none.
 
The quicker the Greens ban diesel cars in Dublin city the better. Must be the only country in Europe that has not got at least one city banning diesel cars. Amazing. I know of one colleague that lives 4 km from work in Dublin city that drives a diesel to work every day.
 
The big white elephant in the room that our government won’t tackle in our cities is public transport. Not alone are there no regular joined up services, there is little evidence of joined up thinking. A decnt public transport service could take thousands of cars off city / suburban roads, but there is no will to do it. Why you’d wonder. Maybe because it might mean work for a few of the high-paid help and some tough, unpoular decisions..

Galway City is now almost at a standstill at rush-hours, morning, midday, school quitting times and end of the working day. The answer they have come up with is to build more roads for more traffic on a ring road, which will increase the distances between start-points and destinations, resulting in more fossil fuel being consumed and more pollution. The additional “hard landscaping” will destroy trees and other parts of the natural environment that soak up water efficiently and effectively, will potentially increase localised flooding and add to the burden on the creaking waste-water management system.

Fix the public transport problem first. Increase the number of local train services from places like Athenry into the heart of Galway City, be innovative. The old solutions to traffic and congestion problems are what got us to where we are. The true sign of insanity is repeating the actions of the past expecting different outcomes now.
 
There's a very simple starting point here...

Increase the road tax on Diesel Cars by 100%, effective immediately (to help reverse the stupid current situation, where road tax is cheaper for diesel cars then petrol). Then increase it by a further 33% per year for the next 3 years, then increase it by a further 100%. All increased tax from this source to be used to invest in more electric charge points.

Also, stick a levy of 50 cents per litre on Diesel, again with immediate effect. Then increase by a further 50 cents per litre each Budget going forward. All funds raised from this source to be invested in proper cycle lanes (not white lanes painted on the edge of a road).

Ban the importation of all s departments diesel cars, with immediate effect.

Ban all Government Departments and State Agencies from buying Diesel Cars and give them 5 years to dispose of any currently held.

All state employees, and contractors to stop receiving mileage payment for journeys made in diesel cars, in 3 years time.

People trading in Diesel Cars against Electric or Hibred Cars to get a €5k tax break against all personal income, once they first register the new car and provide evidence that their former Diesel car has been traded in.

There you go, radical, simple and effective ...
 
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