Palma City Council has announced a mobility ordinance to regulate its Low Emissions Zone (ZBE), which will come into force on 1^st January 2025. This measure, promoted by European regulations that require cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants to reduce pollution, will restrict the circulation of vehicles that do not comply with environmental standards.

The future ZBE will be activated in three phases:

– In the first stage, which will run from 1st January 2025 to 2027, access to category A vehicles will be prohibited; that is, vehicles without a label.
– The second phase will begin in 2027, and the restrictions will be extended to vehicles with a B sticker.
– The final phase, beginning in 2030, states that from that date, only vehicles with an ECO and ZERO environmental label will be able to access the Palma ZBE.

This means ECO-labelled LPG cars will not face any restrictions in 2025 or 2030. Over the next decade, Autogas vehicles, along with electric and hybrid vehicles, will be the only types of vehicles allowed to enter the city’s historic centre.

The president of the Association of Mechanical Workshops of the Balearic Islands, Julio González, recalled that there are about 40 conversion workshops in Mallorca. “The LPG kit installation has a cost of about EUR 1,500 or 2,000, and the conversion represents a saving of 50% compared to what is paid for a litre of petrol,” he added.

According to González, citizens are generally “unaware of this alternative, which is compared with the environmental distinctiveness of a hybrid vehicle.”

Source: Cadena SER

Photo: Unsplash

3 July 2024