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Electric cars and machines, the future?
Electric machines are on the rise. Almost all major car brands have developed electric models and manufacturers are producing more and more electric versions of their machines, but why make the switch?
Zero Emission Zones
To improve air quality, cities like London, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen have implemented or announced Zero Emission Zones (ZEZ) in their inner-city areas. This means they will only allow zero-emission vehicles in certain city areas. Dutch cities such as Amsterdam, Utrecht, Tilburg and Eindhoven are locking up their city centres and surrounding neighbourhoods from polluting commercial vehicles from 1 January 2025. That's all diesel and petrol vans or trucks. To enter these city centres with a commercial vehicle, it will have to be an electric or hydrogen car. Meanwhile, smaller cities all over Europe are banning older petrol and diesel-driven vehicles by implementing Low Emission zones (LEZ), which means you need a compliant vehicle if you want to enter inner-city areas.
The subsidisation of electric cars
European governments offer several subsidies to encourage businesses to buy zero-emission commercial vehicles. For example, the Netherlands has the SEBA and the AANZET subsidy. With the SEBA, you can get a maximum subsidy of €5000 for buying a zero-emission company car. This does come with a number of conditions, such as it is only available to entrepreneurs and non-profit organisations. With the SEBA, you get a percentage of the purchase, depending on the type of car and the size of your company. There are also a number of conditions attached to this. Most European governments offer comparable support, check your government's website for your possibilities.
Advantages of electric machines
Electric van-pack machines, such as the eCityJet, also have a number of advantages over petrol and diesel machines. For instance, the energy consumption of the electric machine costs less than that of its fuel counterpart. In addition, using the electric machines in (enclosed) areas such as car parks is not harmful to staff and bystanders due to the absence of exhaust fumes. Moreover, the electric motor produces significantly less noise than a fuel engine, allowing work to be carried out early in the morning and late at night without noise pollution. Especially when the electric machine is built into an electric car. In any case, all these factors make us rethink our future plans.
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