Danish Government Pushes Electric Cars With Envious Perks

With the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change set to convene in Copenhagen on Dec. 7, the Danish government wants to showcase the latest in green technology, especially in personal transportation.

"The government offers a minimum $40,000 tax break on each new electric car - and free parking in downtown Copenhagen.

By revamping the power grid, Dong Energy, Better Place's partner and the biggest utility in Denmark, wants to power the anticipated fleet of electric cars with wind energy, which already supplies nearly 20 percent of the country's power.

In January 2009, Shai Agassi, Better Place's founder and chief executive, promised that Denmark would have 100,000 charging spots in place and several thousand cars on the road by 2010. But with that deadline approaching, no Better Place cars are on the road and only 55 charging spots are ready."

From NY Streetsblog: The Climate Pitfalls of Denmark's Electric Car Parking Perk:

"Denmark and Copenhagen are hardly alone in being blinded by alternate-fuel vehicles' green halo. The 2007 Bloomberg congestion pricing plan specified a two-thirds discount for "clean-fuel" trucks, despite the dwindling air quality advantage as cleaner diesel fuels and engines are phased in anyway, and in seeming denial of the additional traffic congestion (as well as reduced toll revenues to support transit)."

Thanks to Mark Boshnack