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Paris To Test Banning Gas-Guzzlers (Yes, SUVs!) In City Core

 
37,275 views Dec 28, 2010
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Why are many European carmakers now planning to build electric vehicles? Because many European cities are widely expected to ban high-emissions vehicles from their city cores over the next decade--perhaps even vehicles with any emissions at all.

Now, Paris may be the first city to experiment with such a policy. Next year, it will begin to test restrictions on vehicles that emit more than a certain amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) per kilometer--the measure of a car's contribution to greenhouse gases.

An official within the Parisian mayor's office, Denis Baupin, identified older diesel-engined cars and sport-utility vehicles as specific targets of the emissions limit.


"I'm sorry," Baupin said on RTL Radio, "but having a sport utility vehicle in a city makes no sense." He suggested that Parisian SUV owners replace their sport utilities with vehicles that are "compatible with city life."

Thus far, the specific details of the restrictions--including numeric limits, which types of engines and vehicles would be targeted, the locations and the timing of the bans--are still being debated, as are the penalties for flouting them.

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Other French cities planning to test similar restrictions over the next two years include Lyon, Grenoble, and Aix-en-Provence.

London's congestion-charging scheme, which levies a fee of £10 (roughly $15.50) to enter a large area of the central city during weekday business hours, permits zero-emissions vehicles to enter free.

Residents and travelers have responded by buying thousands of electric cars, including the low-speed fiberglass G-Wiz--despite major safety concerns with the vehicle.

Electric cars such as the 2011 Nissan Leaf are expected to sell for the same reason. In fact, Nissan plans to build up to 50,000 Leafs a year at its plant in Sunderland, England, starting in early 2013.

[AP via Detroit Free Press]





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Comments (27)

  1. Al Posted: 12/28/2010 1:40pm PST

    Hopefully they will also ban gas guzzling full size mercedes and beemers and exotic european sports cars
     
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  2. samm Posted: 12/28/2010 7:23pm PST

    American makes fun of France ane Europe, but they have better and better fuel emmissions and better speed trains than us. All we have is slow, expensive Amtrak
     
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  3. Tom Posted: 12/29/2010 1:18am PST

    What about people with large families that cannot fit in a two seater smart car or five seater sedan? Are they considered incompatible with city life by these central planners?
     
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  4. General Lee Posted: 12/29/2010 1:23am PST

    Well, french are pussies. They will pry my HEMI V8 from my cold dead hands. Nothing like a V8 roaring in the highway. The world is going soft and pussy, Europe head first.
     
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  5. Jonas B. Posted: 12/29/2010 2:27am PST

    I don't get why Paris "may be the first city to experiment with such a policy". Here in Munich, Germany (yes, the one with the Oktoberfest) we've had cars with too much Co2-emmisions banned from our inner city about 1 year ago. Vehicles are divided into emissin classes and are given windshield stickers with 0 (no emission) 4 (low emission) - 1 (heavy emission). So far, the 1's and 2's have been banned...
     
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  6. Ben Posted: 12/29/2010 2:29am PST

    Tom - a station wagon or minivan is fine for large families, and these vehicles have better safety, smaller size, and are what most SUV drivers ought to have - if they weren't making their decisions on fashion.
     
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  7. Reggie Posted: 12/29/2010 5:13am PST

    Typical urban French, drawing imaginary lines to convince themselves they're better than everyone else, and getting offended if someone else's vehicle is taller than theirs. Parisians will "look up to" nobody.
     
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  8. Grant Posted: 12/29/2010 5:41am PST

    Heaven forbid you want to live in the city but have interests in nature. I'm a duck hunter in the US and I live in a city. I don't have a truck to be a redneck, I actually use it. Buying another car is out of the option and I have to have 4-wheel drive and the ability to tow.
     
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  9. Jonathan Posted: 12/29/2010 6:35am PST

    I love how everyone on here feels personally offended by something that another country is instituting for their own good. Typical American ignorance. Perhaps they don't want to live downtown choked by smog? It's really easy to determine which vehicles are most contributing to that problem so they are drawing a line to ban them. If you want to play cowboy don't live in the city, pure and simple. Cry me a river next time gas goes up 10 cents, because at the end of the day the price of gas is guaranteed to go up. Jesus isn't going to make more for you to carelessly burn.
     
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  10. Grant Posted: 12/29/2010 6:57am PST

    Jonathan,
    I'd say you are a little off base there bud. Playing cowboy has nothing to do with taking an active roll in conservation of wildlife. And there is certainly no need for the insertion of the "Jesus isn't going to make more" comment. Trucks weren't just invented to look cool. They serve a purpose, but I guess your pampered ass doesn't ever set foot outside of your little urban cage; so you have no idea what exists beyond your little internet/tv window to the world. What's next? No breathing in inner cities because most diseases are spread through the air? Let's take away even the basic decisions people are allowed to have now. Everyone yield to the hive mind. Piss on that "directed by laws" mentality. I'll take America any day.
     
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  11. Crash Posted: 12/29/2010 7:14am PST

    What's a 0 emissions vehicle? Even a bike that is human powered, humans emit CO2.
     
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  12. Nick Posted: 12/29/2010 7:37am PST

    Paris is an old city, with many small winding streets, and a decent public transportation system. It is the wrong environment for a large, wide, heavy car like a SUV.
    Meanwhile, the Americans want this story about them, like the person who "Wants to be the bride at every wedding, the corpse at every funeral"
     
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  13. B1r Posted: 12/29/2010 8:02am PST

    I live in a city where most of the trucks and SUVs never set a foot (tire?) in the country side or highway, I personally have several people that have them just because they look cool and because they think maybe someday they will want to move a couch somewhere, I drive a Mustang so I'm not on the green side either, but I just hate big trucks taking more parking space in the city just because of their assholeness
     
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  14. B1r Posted: 12/29/2010 8:02am PST

    I live in a city where most of the trucks and SUVs never set a foot (tire?) in the country side or highway, I personally have several people that have them just because they look cool and because they think maybe someday they will want to move a couch somewhere, I drive a Mustang so I'm not on the green side either, but I just hate big trucks taking more parking space in the city just because of their assholeness
     
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  15. Jonathan Posted: 12/29/2010 8:17am PST

    @Crash - That's pretty funny because that is technically true.
    @Grant - Continue waving your 'Made in China' American flag on the deck of the Titanic. There are uses for trucks, no one is questioning that so don't reframe the issue. The issue is large vehicles that needlessly output a disproportionately high amount of CO2 in downtown Paris. As the article stated it's preliminary and I would be shocked if there wasn't exemptions for actual work vehicles. They are trying to discourage the mom with the SUV from ferrying her single child across the city in her rolling fortress. As you Americans say "If you don't like it, get out." =)
     
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  16. Grant Posted: 12/29/2010 8:38am PST

    Jonathan,
    There is no doubt that the governments of Europe are structured differently than our own. For the most part it's for good reason and to accommodate higher population densities. As a normal American it is very probable that I consume more than you. I travel farther and I have a bigger vehicle. However, I think the geography and population distribution mandates my usage amounts. My problem is with the way that Europeans are so quick to point a finger at a "problem" and slap a law on it. Ok, maybe this law will be great and save mankind. Maybe it will put Europe ahead of everyone else for what is the inevitable regulation of the draining on our (Yes, you me and the entire world’s) fossil fuel resources. But the other side of the token is that people cannot keep making laws just because the majority feels a certain way.
     
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  17. Grant Posted: 12/29/2010 8:38am PST

    I don’t think we should make Christians stop worshipping just because religion is a major cause of wars. That affects you and me even if we are Atheists right? I don’t think that blacks should be stripped of rights in America, even though they have a much higher rate of crime than any other group. If they rob or murder that affects me. Laws were originally a much more lax way of stopping the absurd problems of maniacs, not to regulate how normal people live everyday life. That’s why I fundamentally disagree with this law. It may be a good thing, but it’s too much for this “Ignorant American.”
     
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  18. Grant Posted: 12/29/2010 8:43am PST

    I don’t think we should make Christians stop worshipping just because religion is a major cause of wars. That affects you and me even if we are Atheists right? I don’t think that blacks should be stripped of rights in America, even though they have a much higher rate of crime than any other group. If they rob or murder that affects me. Laws were originally a much more lax way of stopping the absurd problems of maniacs, not to regulate how normal people live everyday life. That’s why I fundamentally disagree with this law. It may be a good thing, but it’s too much for this “Ignorant American.”
     
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  19. Dawn Posted: 12/29/2010 9:15am PST

    As a previous commenter said, if they are going on the basis of emissions, then they better ban Mercedes and BMW sedans. Those vehicles get worse gas mileage and release more emissions than the crossover SUVs. (not full sized ones, of course, but those can't fit on parisian streets anyway.) also, sports cars are even worse.
     
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  20. Emilien Posted: 12/29/2010 9:53am PST

    I live in Paris and I am shocked by this stupid decision.
    This month, we got a few centimeters of snow and it was a huge panic. Accidents all over the news, people sleeping in their cars stuck on the freeway... Because of the incompetence of public services, at some point the only cars that could hit the road were the ones with 4WD... So much for being not "compatible with city life"...
    Also, I am pretty sure they won't ban high-end sedans, because that's what they (and their lobbys) drive.
    Once again, please French politicians, quit taking radical and uninformed decisions... That's not what progress is about.
     
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  21. HS250H Posted: 12/29/2010 5:16pm PST

    @Grant if you google "ethnic crime statistics 2009". Take a look at the Wikipedia overall general ethnic crime statistics. Scroll down to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) section. You'll find that blacks over all crime rate is 49%, Natives 48% Hispanics 44% Whites 42% and Asians 40%. I dont think your statement on 12/29/10 is entirely fair towards Blacks....You quoted: "I don’t think that blacks should be stripped of rights in America, even though they have a much higher rate of crime than any other group" unquote...As you can see by the numbers Grant.. Black crime rate is "in fact not much higher than the other ethnic groups". The difference between Black & White crime rate is only 7%, and closer with the other ethnic groups except Asians. I wont go as far to say your statement was biased but will say misinformative. Please try your best to do a better job at making your point next time sir. Black people in America have a bad enough rap as it is. Over stated misinformation like your posting towards Black crime can be considered ignorant to some, and insulting to others.
     
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  22. José A. de Souza Jr. Posted: 12/30/2010 3:57am PST

    SUVs and light trucks came glittering into fashion as a by-product of the neoconservatist wave that shook the world from the 1980s onwards. They're mostly just that: a fashion statement. Say, kind of a macho-to-be sissy wheels. Let's get back to sense, for starters.
     
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  23. dan Posted: 12/30/2010 8:31am PST

    La ville de Québec aussi devrais quant a moi innové de ce côté
     
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  24. Enzo Posted: 12/30/2010 8:32am PST

    There they go again worrying about C02. When will these idiots learn that C02 has nothing to do with global warming? There was global warming before human beings even existed. There is global warming on other planets in our solar system. It is caused by the sun, morons. These hairless monkeys are clueless.
     
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  25. Gabe Posted: 12/30/2010 10:17am PST

    I absolutely love the idea of keeping cities lean and green, but I have a family of six, we love roadtrips, have a nice trailer for camping wherever whenever, and off road when we can... maybe for the soccer moms that drive Hummers and Range Rovers for no reason other than social class, but maybe a few exceptions?
     
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  26. Grant Posted: 12/30/2010 12:59pm PST

    @HS250H…Well now, since you don't know how to read I'll explain it to you. That statistic you just leaned on doesn't have jack to do with the total number of crimes committed nor the proportion of crimes per race. It just references the report rate to the NCVS vs. to the police.
    The important statistics are the ones that are Per Capita. (That means how many per given sample size…since you can't figure things out yourself.) Let's start with the rate of incarceration:U.S. incarceration rates by race, June 30, 2006:
    Whites: 409 per 100,000 Latinos: 1,038 per 100,000
    Blacks: 2,468 per 100,000
     
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  27. Grant Posted: 12/30/2010 1:02pm PST

    @HS250H...Let’s go further, since maybe you think that’s not enough. Your article says that Whites (Yes, that includes Latinos for this one) are 79.79% of the population. Blacks are 12.84%. MOAR!
    Wikipedia has the US pop at 308,745,538. That means 246,348,064 are white and 39,642,927 are black. MOAR!
    Total Lethal crimes whites 42.8%(*16,277 perps) and blacks 36.5%(*16,277 perps) is 6966.56 for whites and 5941.1 for blacks.
    Murders per capita. 2.83:100,000 for whites and 14.99:100,000 for blacks. That’s well over 5:1 murders for blacks to whites. You are an ass and I’m not racist, I’m just stating the facts. Next time you plan to belittle someone or call them ignorant, maybe you should think before you speak.
     
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