London's new toxicity charge

Polluted London.  Source: Hybrid Cars

London's mayor, Sadiq Khan, has introduced a £10.00 a day "toxicity charge" for cars older than 2006.  This will be in addition to the congestion charge of £11.50 a day, designed to discourage car use in the city of London.  This is going to be extended even to new diesel vehicles in 2019.  EV Obsession's comment on the news:

Sadiq Khan is a member of the Labour Party, so his policies are more socialist than those of our right-wing government. Their policy is summed up by David Cameron’s famous remark of “cut the green crap”. It is only through insistence by the courts, and the European Union, that they have even started to address environmental issues. They have done nothing at all about the unacceptable levels of air pollution in many UK cities.

My view is that politicians are far too slow to act, and the measures that they propose are much too far in the future to be of any relevance for today’s problems. The government talk about a vague ban on ICE vehicles in about 30 years’ time. At that time, it will be much too late, and they will not even be in power to take any responsibility for it. Such proposals are mere “window dressing”, that do not even begin to respond to the environmental crisis in which we are living today. They make it appear that an indifferent government have a commitment to improvement, which, in reality, they entirely lack.

Sadiq Khan is, commendably, introducing this measure today, with a promise of more to come. This is probably in the shortest timescale that can practically be achieved, to allow time for alternatives to be implemented. London is moving towards electric taxis and buses, and the tube trains of course are already electric. We all know that EVs are the future, but we need the future right now. Let us hope that this positive action proves to be the small pebble thrown in the mountain that causes an avalanche of beneficial change.

[Read more here]

10,000 people a year in London die from the effects of long-term air pollution.  Pious promises that petrol cars will be banned in 2030 ... 2035 .... 2040 are meaningless.  We need policies with teeth, policies which will progressively force the switch into clean transport now, not in 20 or 30 years.  Within the limits of his power, that is what Khan is doing.  Good on him.

Incidentally, London is also building a huge new extension to the London Underground, called Crossrail (now "The Elizabeth Line")  plus smaller extensions to the tube, for example, the extension to the Northern Line.  This is the solution to urban air pollution: replace ICEVs with EVs and build public transport networks.  BYD's monorail perhaps?  But of course, this all assumes that your government isn't a wholly owned subsidiary of oil and coal companies.

[More reports here and here and here]