News item | 16-06-2022 | 18:00
From next year, municipalities will be allowed to charge lower parking rates for electric cars and cars that run on hydrogen. The cabinet plans to amend the Municipalities Act for this, State Secretary Vivianne Heijnen (Infrastructure and Water Management) wrote to the House of Representatives today.
Heijnen: “This gives municipalities an extra tool in their toolbox to work on clean air and less traffic noise in their city or village. I think that’s important. Depending on the situation in their municipality, they can choose whether they want to make use of this”.
Instrument for municipalities
Parking policy is tailor-made, which differs per district. That is why municipalities in the Netherlands are allowed to determine whether motorists have to pay to park somewhere. And how much that will cost. This authority is laid down in Article 225 of the Municipalities Act. From next year they can therefore choose to give a discount on electric cars. This concerns regular paid parking along the road or in a parking lot, but can also concern the costs of a parking permit. Municipalities can decide for themselves whether they want to give a discount, and how much that is. They can also decide for themselves how they want to give the discount. This can be done, for example, via parking apps, or by entering an extra option at the parking meter.
Discount only for clean cars
The option to give a discount only applies to cars that do not emit any exhaust fumes while driving. Such as electric and hydrogen-powered cars, passenger cars and delivery vans. And not for economical or hybrid cars. Currently, almost 300,000 of the 9 million cars in the Netherlands are completely clean. In 2030 there are expected to be about two million.
On to completely clean
The Netherlands wants all cars on the road to be completely clean by 2050. The batteries of electric cars are improving rapidly, the costs per kilometer are falling, and many charging stations will be added in the coming years. Governments are working hard to make clean driving attractive. Research has shown that a discount on parking rates for electric cars can also contribute to this. Certainly in combination with other benefits for electric drivers. Various municipalities indicated that they were interested in this extra option when the regulations were being drawn up.