Future low carbon vehicles ‘offer prospect of cash savings for drivers’

March 18, 2013

A study, carried out jointly by Ricardo-AEA and Cambridge Econometrics, aim analysed the economic impacts of decarbonizing light duty vehicles.  As part of the study, the impacts of the European Commission’s proposed 2020 CO2 regulation for cars and vans was assessed. The analysis showed that a shift to low-carbon vehicles would increase spending on vehicle technology, therefore generating positive direct employment impacts, but potentially adding €1,000-€1,100 to the capital cost of the average new car in 2020. However, these additional technology costs would be offset by fuel savings of around €400 per year, indicating an effective break-even point for drivers of approximately three years. At the EU level, the cost of running and maintaining the European car fleet would become €33-35 billion lower each year than in a “do nothing scenario” by 2030, leading to positive economic impacts including indirect employment gains.

http://www.ricardo.com/en-GB/News--Media/Press-releases/News-releases1/2013/Future-low-carbon-vehicles-offer-prospect-of-cash-savings-for-drivers/
http://www.ricardo.com/Documents/PRs%20pdf/PRs%202013/Economic%20Assessment%20Vehicles%20-%20FINAL.pdf