EV fans are celebrating Stockholm, Sweden announcing that in 2025 it will ban all gas and diesel vehicles from the city center as a means to improve air quality and cut noise pollution. We’ve seen similar bans in other cities in Europe, although this is perhaps the most sweeping one yet, but at this point it’s just not surprising.
Learn how just one authoritarian politician could in fact seize your car(s) here.
According to multiple reports, the area where driver won’t be able to take their internal combustion vehicle is 20 blocks in the commercial center of Stockholm. Located there are high-end offices and luxury stores. So in effect this is just another way to keep the poors out of the swanky areas.
While we know there are some electric commercial trucks, they’re limited at the moment. So we’re wondering if a variance or exception will be granted for blue collar workers who need to maintain that section of the city, deliver items, and in general keep things running for all the rich people who live, shop, and work there. We can’t imagine every commercial vehicle that rolls into that neighborhood in under a year and a half will be running entirely on battery power.
As Reuters points out, the Green Patry in Sweden is hopeful this government regulation will encourage citizens to ditch ICE cars and buy EVs. Why strong arming people into EV adoption is such an acceptable means of driving towards in adoption in some areas is a question almost always met with hostility instead of a genuine, reasoned answer, which we believe is an answer unto itself.
Every time a city in Europe does something like this, California or some other place in the US that thinks we must “follow Europe’s lead” will try to match or surpass it. While this might push more people in Stockholm to just buy the Tesla, the US is a big country and it might be that people who don’t want to be forced into an EV will just avoid certain areas if this idea spreads further.
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