VOLVO CAR UK SUCCEEDS IN ITS CONGESTION CHARGE CHALLENGE TO THE MAYOR OF LONDON
· The Mayor of London has agreed to review the exemption for alternative fuel vehicles.
· The public have spoken - only one third of motorists believe that the current exemption is fair.
Following its challenge to The Mayor of London, Volvo Car UK has been successful in its bid to review the current Congestion Charge alternative fuel exemption that, Volvo believes, unfairly biases hybrid cars over other low-emitting vehicles.
In his response to the campaign, The Mayor confirmed that the exemption to the Congestion Charge was introduced to incentivise the take-up of more environmentally-friendly vehicles but that he recognised that vehicle technology has developed considerably since then. Transport for London will report their recommendations by the end of the year.
The news comes at the same time as a What Car? poll confirms that the motoring public also believe that the current hybrid and electric car exemption is outdated and unfair.
In the poll, conducted on the homepage of WhatCar.com, 50 per cent of over 1,500 respondents confirmed that they believed that any exemption should be CO2 based while only 34 per cent believed that the status quo, where all hybrid or electric cars are exempt, is fair.
If this view were to be enacted, drivers of Volvo's C30, S40 and V50 DRIVe cars featuring Start/Stop technology would be able to travel around the country's capital free of charge.
Those who wish to register their support for the campaign can do so by clicking below:
The following letter was sent to The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson on Monday 22 June 2009.
Dear Mr Johnson,
Thank you for your hospitality on Monday 8 June on the occasion of the What Car? Green Car of the Year awards.
I was sorry not to have had longer to elaborate on the thoughts contained in my acceptance speech. In essence, it is Volvo's belief that, in its current structure, the London Congestion Charge unfairly benefits hybrid-powered cars at the expense of drivers choosing normal internal combustion-powered ones with similar levels of emissions.
It is clear that at the time of the inception of the Congestion Charge in 2003, hybrid cars offered the lowest levels of tail-pipe emissions and it therefore made sense to incentivise ownership of those lower-polluting hybrid cars to reduce CO2 emissions in London. It is, however, beyond doubt that the automotive industry has risen to the challenge and is constantly reducing tail-pipe CO2. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) suggest that the reduction was more than four per cent last year alone. As a result, we now find ourselves in a situation where conventional cars can deliver equivalent, and in some cases, better levels of emissions than the hybrid cars that still receive an exemption from the charge.
The SMMT confirms that at the end of 2008, there were 13 non-hybrid models in the total UK car market that fell below the 105g/km threshold, being the same CO2 emissions as the most widely known hybrid-powered car, the Toyota Prius. This number will have increased substantially in 2009. Using the SMMT's sales data too, that would add up to more than 9,500 owners of low emission cars who should, given a level playing field, benefit from a zero-rate Congestion Charge when driving into London. Again, this number will have increased substantially in 2009.
To further underscore the apparent injustice, owners of the 192g/km-emitting Lexus RX400h hybrid car also benefit from free-of-charge Congestion Charge while drivers of the new Volvo XC60 2.4d model – a car of similar size to the Lexus but emitting just 159g/km of CO2 - aren't exempt.
I appreciate that the removal of the Congestion Charge for all low-emitting cars would have considerable financial implications for Transport for London but at Volvo, we believe in one rule for one, one rule for all. With this in mind, I would be very grateful to hear your thoughts on this subject and understand what proposals you might consider putting forwards, not just for drivers of Volvo's What Car? Green Car of the Year, but for drivers of all low emission cars who are currently subject to the Congestion Charge.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Stuart Kerr
Regional President, Europe
Volvo Car Corporation