Editorial | Reality is forgotten in the climate goals of motoring

Tukholma said that it will ban the entry of combustion engine cars to the city center blocks at the beginning of 2025. After the announcement, Helsinki was also excited about the matter under the leadership of deputy mayor Anni Sinnemäki (green).

The matter is already being investigated in Helsinki. The area reserved only for electric and gas cars would initially be small and would expand gradually. However, the model especially cherished by the greens has not received much understanding from other parties. For example, deputy mayor Daniel Sazonov (kok) thinks that no restrictions of any kind can even be considered until the city and the state create proper conditions for the electrification of the car fleet.

Climate goals for urban transport are one thing. Another thing is Finland’s car fleet. It is, for example, far behind Sweden’s car stock.

The average age of cars in Finland was 13 years at the end of last year. Many Finns still drive the 2010 Volkswagen Golf, which was the best-selling car at the time. It runs solidly with the power of a combustion engine, like many other favorite models of that time, which are still in circulation.

The aging of cars has long been an upward trend, and it is a big problem for climate goals.

Rin Uotsi, the cars are newer, on average ten years old, and fully electric cars are more common there than in Finland. However, the development slowed down when the purchase subsidy for the buyer of an electric car was abolished. At the same time, interest rates and prices have risen.

In Finland, the market share of fully electric cars is growing rapidly. Now every third new passenger car is fully electric. Nevertheless, 94 percent of all cars still run on gasoline or diesel.

In the capital region, cars are on average newer and more often electric than in lower-income areas. There is still work to be done on the numbers in Stockholm.

At some point, traffic climate zones will be a reality even in Finland’s big cities. When implemented on a very large scale, they still do not succeed. If the zone were to be created now, there would almost certainly be people living inside it whose cars would become illegal in their own homes.

Buying an expensive electric car must first become a reality for more people, and there must be more electric buses as well.

The editorials are HS’s positions on a current topic. The articles are prepared by HS’s editorial department, and they reflect the magazine principle line.