Amsterdam to ban all fossil fuel transport

Amsterdam is set to ban fossil fuel vehicles from the entire city by 2030.

Plans to block petrol and diesel cars within about 10 years have been announced by Amsterdam transport head Sharon Dijksma, the proposals to go to the city council vote after public consultation and likely to be implemented later this year.

The aim is to have no petrol or diesel buses in the city centre by 2022 and all ferries, tour and recreational boats, trucks, taxis, vans, scooters and mopeds within the A10 ring road emission-free by 2025, followed by motorbikes and cars five years later.

Amsterdam would need 23,000 electric charging points by 2025 and at present has 3000 of them, The Telegraph and Dutch media Trouw

report.

The plan is to make the Dutch capital a “world leader in emission-free transport” with Dijksma reported as saying residents knock a year off their lifespan on average because of polluted air and that this plan should extend the health of the average Amsterdam resident by three months from 2030.

The Dutch government recently allowed cities to ban old diesel cars in environmental zones.

Amsterdam has already geared for electric taxis and is removing 10,000 car parking spaces within seven years to make more room for cyclists and pedestrians with the aim of a car-free city centre.

Dijksma suggests incentives will help the transition from fossil fuels to emissions-free transport.

Trouw reports that Tesla already has its European headquarters in Amsterdam and electric buses in Valkenswaard are being rolled out for all of Europe.