Paris aims to drive large sports utility vehicles (SUVs) out of its centre by hiking parking fees for heavy cars in the French capital, and it plans a citizens' vote on the proposal early next year.
Depends on what the goal is. Heavy vehicles do disproportionately more damage to the infrastructure.
They might want to encourage smaller, lighter cars, regardless of type. They certainly make small city EVs, as well as just encouraging walking, biking, public transportation, etc.
Not sure where you pulled 8000lbs from, even a fully speced out expedition isn't going to be 6000lbs. Most non full sized ones, especially ones like the CRV or escape or something are under 4,000lbs. A model 3 weighs more than the majority of those smaller SUVs.
Don't try to take this as any sort of pro-suv or anti-ev message, quite the opposite. Spouting incorrect bullshit makes people less likely to believe the actual facts, such as the increase of SUVs and trucks quite literally killing us.
Everything which is related to the common space should be charged or even limited by their impact in the common space.
SUV's are bigger so use more space, are almost twice as likely to kill a pedestrian in a collision than other cars, interfere with the ability of other road users to spot danger sooner (because people in normal cars behind a SUV often are in a position too low to see the road beyond the SUV through its windows) and because of being heavier and less aerodinamically efficient consume more hence polute more (even the electric ones indirectly polute more because not all electricity is generated from renewals).
So it makes sense that SUVs get hit by significantly higher charges related to their impact in the common space or even limited in some places because they're much more dangerous to pedestrians and negativelly impact the safety of other road users.
I understand something like a GMC Suburban or a Cadillac Escalade, but the Porsche Macan (in article thumbnail) and many other compact SUVs take up the same curb space and about the same weight and length as a standard sedan.
Porsche Macan (SUV): 4400lbs, 186.1"
Honda CRV (SUV): 3285lbs, 184.8"
Audi A4 (sedan): 3700lbs, 187.5"
Pegeout 508 (sedan): 3290lbs, 187"
vs
Cadillac Escalade (SUV): 6200lbs, 211"
Range Rover (SUV): 6025lbs, 207"
Unless they put weighted meters at every parking space, would be interesting to see how they enforce this. Compact-SUVs are useful and are well equipped for their weight (AWD, safety features, space-efficient).
Here is a cool chart showing weight vs road wear. Not sure how scientific it is, but shows cars around 4000lbs are considered normal wear.
Unless the goal is to move drivers to the subcompact-sedan form factor.
Mini Cooper: 3144lbs, 159.1"
Citreon C3: 2226lbs, 156.7"
Then they could make low cost parking spaces ~170" long and any cars that do not fit in that would have to go in the bigger spaces with a higher rate. Very curious how they would implement it without costing the tax payer too much.
PARIS, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Paris aims to drive large sports utility vehicles (SUVs) out of its centre by hiking parking fees for heavy cars in the French capital, and it plans a citizens' vote on the proposal early next year.
After banning rental scooters in September in the wake of a citizen's vote, Paris will hold a local referendum on Feb. 4 about "the place of SUVs in the capital".
"We need to reduce the number and the size of cars in the city, that is why we will submit to a vote the question of how much space there should be for this type of vehicle in Paris," Deputy Mayor David Belliard, an ecologist, told Reuters.
Under Mayor Anne Hidalgo, Paris has for years raised pressure on drivers by increasing parking costs and gradually banning diesel vehicles, while boosting the bicycle lane network in the congested capital.
In a few years, in a few months, they won't be welcome in Paris with this type of behaviour," Belliard said.
He said Paris also wanted car manufacturers to stop building this type of vehicle because they were too expensive, too polluting and unsuitable for cramped city centres.
The original article contains 356 words, the summary contains 197 words. Saved 45%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Good. Too bad it will never happen in the US. I'm sick and tired of these shitboxes that destroy visibility and kill people, always being operated by someone clueless (and usually single occupancy).
Here's the thing: people don't make decision based on cost, but on what they feel what the cost is. For example: there are studies showing people underestimate the cost of car ownership by a factor of 2. They typically forget about the loss in value and the repair costs. Parking fees (if taken per occasion) are cost that people actually feel every day, making it more likely that they factor into their decision, maybe even more so than fuel costs.