In the EU, around a quarter of CO2 emissions come from transport, 12 percent of which are from passenger cars. The EU has adopted a plan in which emissions from new vehicles are to be 55 percent lower than in 2021, and Germany has now agreed to this plan.
The biggest handicap with electric cars is still the lack of range. With a new type of body, the range is now to be increased by a whole 25 percent. In addition, this car body can also store electricity.
Mannheim is banning cars from the city centre, but only on a trial basis for the time being. More space is to be created for pedestrians and cyclists and the city is to be freed from noise and exhaust fumes.
Combustion engines are supposed to be a thing of the past in the EU from 2035. But Germany is refusing to comply.
For 47 years, the Deutsche Automobil Treuhand (DAT) has been investigating how the German car market is developing. Now there is a new survey about Germans and the car. The results probably do not correspond to the wishes of the traffic light coalition.
It was actually intended as a gimmick: Tesla's boombox, which can also play goat and fart sounds. The American traffic safety authority didn't find it funny at all.
Tyre abrasion is now a major problem for electric cars, especially when it comes to heavy cars. The heavier the vehicle, the greater the abrasion. Thus, although electric cars emit fewer and fewer pollutants, the fine dust from the tyres ends up in the air and on the road.
"De Efteling" is the largest theme and amusement park in the Netherlands. Now the provincial government of North Brabant wants the park to reduce its emissions. Only then would it be allowed to increase its visitor numbers by one million per year. One possibility would be the introduction of environmental zones.
The idea of car-free city centres has been heard more and more often in recent years. But apart from a few individual streets, they have not yet been implemented. Although there are cities that have introduced a car-free Sunday, most cities are still far from a permanent ban on cars. If it were up to the initiative for the "Berlin car-free" referendum, the Berlin government coalition of the SPD, the Greens and the Left Party should decide to ban all cars within the S-Bahn ring.
On 4 February 2022, the Winter Olympics will start in Beijing. The timing is inconvenient as weather conditions are usually such that they favour air pollution. But Beijing has a contingency plan.
