Diexter Thomas
JUST over one percent of all vehicles are powered to some extent by electricity as 2019 figures released in Parliament have shown.
These figures reveal how far the government and technology to achieve carbon neutrality by the target year of 2030.
In total, nearly 44,000 four-wheeled vehicles and motorcycles were registered in Gibraltar last year.
Out of those figures just under 500 are electric or hybrid powered, amounting to 1.13% of the total amount.
If the adult population is around 20,000 it means that most adults must have more than two cars or vans, some of them who don’t even leave the Rock!
The data comes after Gibraltar declared a climate emergency for the peninsula last year.
The goal was that by 2030 Gibraltar would be carbon neutral and by 2035, carbon emissions would be reduced by 50%.
This follows a UK Government push to stop the buying of petrol and diesel vans and cars by 2035 which is soon to go under consultation.
On the other hand, places like Ireland and Denmark have their sights set on 2030 to ban all fossil fuel vehicles.
Shadow Minister for Transport, Elliot Phillips from the GSD brought up this question in Parliament and asked whether the Government is disappointed with these figures.
“I think that at the moment we are at an early stage of the development of this product,” said Minister for Transport Vijay Daryanani referring to the government’s commitment to cut down the use of polluting vehicles.
“As time goes by I think people will realise when new products come onto the market that going electric is the right way.”
“It’s a question of time and perhaps a little bit of patience before start realising that driving an electric vehicle is much better than driving a petrol or a diesel one.”
