Citizens Of Large European Cities Support The Ban On Fossil Fueled Cars

Electric car illustration. (Wikimedia Commons / Michael Movchin / Felix Müller)

JAKARTA - Nearly two-thirds or about 63 percent of the population of major European cities support a ban on the sale of new fossil-fueled, petrol, and diesel cars after 2030, according to a recent YouGov poll.

The survey, which was conducted online from March 3 to 22, 2021, was attended by 10.050 respondents. They come from 15 cities in six countries, including Paris, Lyon, Hamburg, Berlin, Rome, Milan, Barcelona, Madrid, London, Birmingham, Budapest, Warsaw, Krakow, Antwerp, and Brussels.

The online survey asked respondents in these cities whether they supported stopping sales of petrol and diesel cars. As a result, the biggest support came from Rome where 77 percent of people only want emission-free cars to be sold in the future.

An average of 29 percent of people living in these cities said they were against the idea, while 8 percent said they didn't know.

Electric car illustration. (Wikimedia Commons / Plug'n Drive)

This summer, the European Commission will propose tougher emission limits for vehicles. The phasing out of combustion engine cars is one of the options being considered in an upcoming review of the CO2 standard for cars and vans.

Earlier this year, Denmark, Belgium, Ireland, and six other EU countries also urged the commission to set limits on the use of vehicles with combustion engines.

Transport & Environment (T&E), a Brussels-based campaign group that initiated the survey, said the survey showed Europeans were ready to shift to zero-emission mobility.

(Source: YouGov via Euronews)

"From Barcelona to Kraków, there is broad support for ending sales of fossil fuel cars in the European Union", said Julia Poliscanova, senior director of vehicles and e-mobility at T&E, told Euronews.

"People in cities are most exposed to toxic levels of air pollution, and they don't want internal combustion engines to sell for longer than necessary", he continued.

He added that supported by the survey findings, the European Commission should set date across the European Union to end sales of cars with internal combustion engines.

The survey also asked respondents what they thought were the factors that needed to be changed to drive sales of electric cars over gasoline and diesel cars.

Electric car illustration. (Wikimedia Commons / LA2)

Price is the biggest issue, with 55 percent of people saying they thought it would only happen when electric cars were cheaper to buy. Adequate charging infrastructure and coverage are also among the top factors listed in the survey.

T&E says purchase costs have fallen rapidly, the charging infrastructure is "upgraded" and the range on some vehicles is already over 300 km on a single charge. The group added that rapid progress on these factors has helped drive growth in sales of zero-emission vehicles.

To note, more than 1 million electric cars and plug-in hybrid vehicles were sold in the European Union in 2020. This is almost three times the number sold in the previous year.