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The path to clean air leads through the wallet

In Norway, clean transport is a part of everyday life. The path to this success was discussed during a workshop in the “Laboratory of Low Emission Zones” by Norwegian experts – former deputy mayor of Trondheim Ola Lund Renolen and Markus Nilsen Rotevatn from the Norwegian Association of Electric Vehicles.

The online workshop, which was met with great interest, gathered local government officials from cities of various sizes from all over the country, including Białystok, Gorzów Wielkopolski, Opole, as well as from Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Warsaw. – In Trondheim, the fee for electric cars for entering the toll ring zone  is less than half of the fee for combustion vehicles, so it is even lower than the statutory upper limit of the discount – emphasized Ola Lund Renolen, former deputy mayor of Trondheim, now a  city councilor, and added that the same solution is successfully used eg. in Kristiansand.

One advantage of the Norwegian toll rings is undoubtedly the clear, integrated fee collection system, which can be an inspiration for the Polish Low Emission Zones. Experts explained that the vehicle are registered at the place of residence, and the fees are calculated on the basis of a sticker, one for the whole country, which is controlled by cameras – crucially, each time a vehicle enters the ring, rather than selectively.

Other regulations also encourage the choice of clean transport, so that it simply pays off: electric car users can count on e.g. for subsidies to their purchase and tax reliefs.

– The wallet is the strongest argument for choosing clean transport – our research makes this evident. For more than 60 percent of the respondents, economic considerations were the most important motivation –  emphasized Markus Nilsen Rotevatn from the Norwegian Association of Electric Vehicles, partner of the “LEZ Laboratory” project. – This is good news, because it is easier to convince people with the language of benefits than by referring to values. According to the expert, the importance of low emission zones will increase. – Of course, when creating them, the carrot will be more important than the stick – a well-developed public transport network is one of the best incentives to use clean transport – he noted.

(photos: Tarik on Unsplash, own materials)