Over the past years, Europe has been taking increasingly drastic measures to cut down on the emissions in its countries. The low-emission rates are gaining much popularity recently, and the whole continent is on a streak to lower the emissions significantly by 2035!
For instance, the UK is pretty used to this new system, as they comply with new emission standards by retiring older bikes that don’t meet the proper requirements. The UK has a pretty crafty system to differentiate motorcycle models in different Euro emission standards:
- Euro-2 emission bikes – made from 2005
- Euro-3 emission bikes – made from 2008
- Euro-4 emission bikes – made from 2017
Other countries are seeing less drastic and more gradual transformation toward a low-emission future.
In Barcelona, Spain, the local authorities have introduced a Low Emissions Zone that doesn’t let in select types of vehicles:
- gas-powered cars made before 2006
- diesel-powered vehicles made before 2000
- motorcycles made before 2003
London is an example of a more drastic approach to cut down on emissions. Throughout England are the Low Emission Zones similar to Barcelona’s, but in London, there is an Ultra-Low Emission Zone, where only Euro-3 compliant vehicles can be driven.
A day pass costing £12,50/€14,55/$17,66 and a warning to stay in the zone within a set time limit has been introduced for those that can’t comply with this restriction. Somewhat similar to parking tickets. Also, if someone gets caught without a day pass, and doesn’t drive a Euro-3 compliant vehicle, a draconic fine of £1,000/€1,164/$1,413 will be imposed.
Other European countries working on cutting the emissions are:
- Italy – imposing a ban on two-stroke engines
- France – the goal to have only Euro-4 compliant vehicles by 2025
- the Netherlands – aim to ban all vehicles powered by gas and diesel by 2030
The change is coming sooner than we expected. We hope that by 2035, electric vehicles will be friendly for each pocket, as they are currently costly.
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Source: Web Bike World
