There will be no ban on the sale of mopeds with a petrol engine from 2025. It was agreed in the Climate Agreement to only allow the sale of electric models from that moment on, but EU rules stand in the way of that plan.
“Member States may not just decide to ban the sale, because that is contrary to the internal market,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management told NU.nl.
The ministry is now looking for “alternative measures to further stimulate the electrification of the light moped and thus achieve the goal of the Climate Agreement”. State Secretary Vivianne Heijnen wants to inform the House of Representatives about this in the autumn at the latest.
In the first four months of this year, 43.5 percent of newly sold mopeds were already electric, according to figures from RAI Association, BOVAG and data center RDC. In the moped category, which have a higher maximum speed, that percentage is slightly higher.
Brussels also needed for emission-free mopeds
The cabinet hopes that from 2030 only emission-free mopeds may be sold, but is also dependent on European legislation for this. The previous cabinet already tried to ban mopeds with combustion engines in Brussels. But for that there was “insufficient political support in the EU context”, says the spokesperson.
“It is possible that achieving a European agreement phasing out passenger cars with combustion engines by 2035 will lead to a new momentum to also successfully draw European attention to the phasing out of the (non-electric) moped.”
The BOVAG industry association thinks that no laws are needed at all to make electric mopeds and mopeds the standard. “The supply is there, the quality is in order, they are affordable,” says a spokesperson. “What you do not have to enforce by law or rule, you should not do. It is already going very fast.”