'Green Cars Only' Laws: Coming to a Debate Near You

When you’re in conversation with a self-described urbanist, it’s usually impossible to avoid numerous references to Amsterdam, that progressive utopia of bikes, tulips, marijuana-smoking tourists, and more bikes.Well, expect to hear about it even more, now that Dutch parliament has passed a Dutch Labor Party motion to ban the sale of internal combustion vehicles in that country after 2025, according to Auto Express. The bill, which requires senate approval to become the law of the land, would see existing gas and diesel vehicles grandfathered, and the sale of new ones banned.The legislation is the latest in a rising wave of national and subnational dictates aimed at removing pollution-emitting vehicles from roads, or private vehicles as a whole. London’s downtown will only be accessible by Ultra Low Emission Vehicles (ULEVs) after 2020, and Paris will ditch diesels at the same time, but the Netherlands law ups the ante a great deal.Is this an insidious attempt to limit personal autonomy under the guise of environmental stewardship? Doubtlessly, there are many who will see these laws as a gateway to a greenwashed gulag, but this is the direction that society (or at least those running it) is taking us.One person’s blissful utopia is another’s dystopian superstate.Regardless, expect to hear this issue raised at a town or city council meeting near you, if you haven’t already.After all, this isn’t just a Netherlands issue, or even a European Union one (the EU has pushed for a gas-free continent since 2011). Guess which eight states also want to ban gasoline-powered vehicles by 2050? Your guess — assuming it’s based on political stereotypes — is likely correct.But back to the Dutch law, and the logistics of it. Of all European countries, the Netherlands seems better equipped than others to handle becoming gas-free zone. First, its gasoline prices are among the highest in Europe, with lower-octane gas costing 1.55 euro ($1.76) per liter at the beginning of April. That price came close to touching two euros per liter between 2012 to 2014.So, the Dutch are already used to being penalized for car ownership. Secondly, the country’s electricity prices are mid-pack for the EU, and among the lowest of the European countries people actually talk about. Denmark, for example, has the highest electricity rates (thanks to the Scandinavian taxation that urbanists never fail to mention), a figure that seems to correspond with their divorce rate.Where is Elon Musk’s only European Tesla assembly plant, you ask? Why, it’s in Tilburg, Netherlands. The country also boasts an EV takeup rate of about 10 percent.The country is also small, its population clustered in cities, and it has highly developed bike and transit infrastructure. Meaning that getting home from work (or the pub) without a car is easier than in, say, Iowa or Manitoba.Simply put, the necessary infrastructure is in place, and the area is geographically concentrated. That’s not the case in many other jurisdictions where activists want to leap from point A to point Z without having to do all of the incremental (but necessary) steps in between.So, if the Netherlands law comes to pass, that country will probably be able to quickly adapt to having their gasoline cars treated like books in Fahrenheit 451. However, for those sporty Dutch born with a steering wheel in their hands, the Tesla Model 3 can’t come soon enough.[Image: General Motors]