The man who brought the congestion charge to London England has lost his bid for re-election as Mayor of England's capital. Ken Livingstone has always been a controversial figure in British politics but his tenure as mayor of London brought that controversy to new heights. In the course of his eight years at the helm, Livingstone introduced the congestion charge that requires drivers to pay a toll of £8 (about $16) per day to drive into a zone of central London. During the local elections held across much of England in recent days, Livingstone lost his bid for a third term to Conservative party MP Boris Johnson.

The congestion charge was originally pushed as a means of discouraging people from driving into the crowded central area of the city. However, recent studies have indicated that in spite of the fee, traffic has actually gotten worse in London. More recently, Livingstone has moved to expand the congestion zone and change the fee structure to make it based carbon dioxide emissions of the car. As a result cars that emit less than 120g/km of CO₂ would have been exempt from the charge while the thirstiest vehicles would have seen the fee rise to as much as £25 per day. Johnson, the new mayor is opposed to this emissions-based fee and promises to scrap the plan and possibly even rescind the expansion of the congestion zone that occurred in 2007. So it looks like while other cities will proceed with emissions based congestion charges, the city that pioneered the idea may be taking a step back.

[Source: Bloomberg]

We don't want to take sides on London's Congestion Charge, but we are keenly interested in what the charge will mean for the environment and motorists. Ken Livingstone claims that the charge is intended to reduce congestion and CO₂ emissions while Porsche claims that the charges are unnecessarily high and unfair. New evidence that Porsche has located, though, indicates that CO₂ emissions will actually increase if the charges go into effect as planned. In fact, Porsche claims that the mayors office was aware of this report and chose not to release it.

The report, prepared for Transport for London by King's College London's Environmental Research Group, predicted that the charges would create a "very high disbenefit" not only for CO₂ but also for NOx, NO₂ and particulate matter. The reason cited for the increased emissions is that drivers will choose to drive around London instead of driving straight through, which would be a much shorter trip. London's emissions may drop, but the surrounding areas will be disproportionately hurt.

According to Andy Goss, Managing Director of Porsche Cars GB, "We always knew the environmental impact of this unfair tax would be minimal, now we know it will make matters worse. The Mayor and TfL need to explain why this report was not disclosed and why they want to increase taxes on motorists that will increase CO₂. It seems absolutely clear that the report shows that not only have Mayor Livingstone and TfL not presented all of the information to the public about the impact of his £25 charge, but that they have also created a new tax on motorists that will do the exact opposite of its stated goal." Read more of Porsche's response here.

[Source: Porsche]

So much has been written already regarding London Mayor Ken Livingstone's new road tax that we never really spent too much time analyzing the plan itself. Fortunately, though, Clean Green Cars did it for us. EDIT: The Vehicle Excise Duty is different than the new congestion charge that Ken Livingstone is implementing. Sorry for the confusion, and thanks for the correction. As it stands, the road tax divides vehicles up into twelve "bands", separated by how much CO₂ they emit. All of that seems to make some sense at first, until the numbers are crunched to reveal that the bands are divided up rather oddly. For instance, the eleventh band, labeled "L," carries an increase of £120 over band "K", while the next step up the ladder carries only an increase of £25. Why aren't vehicles progressively punished based on their emissions?

If this data seems difficult to understand, take a look at the press release and accompanying press release pasted after the break. It may serve to clear things up a bit. Any thoughts regarding the makeup of these taxes are welcome in the comments.

UPDATE: Headline also changed.

By now, you're surely aware of the efforts of London Mayor Ken Livingstone to increase London's congestion charge. You're also likely know about the distaste that Porsche feels regarding these changes. Back in late February, Porsche polled Londoners themselves and found that 74 percent of Londoners think that the new £25 congestion charge is too high. Hmm... Livingstone's got his own survey too, and he says, "This robust survey provides further clear evidence of the strong support from Londoners for these measures, with 61% behind the decision to charge £25 for gas-guzzlers. Moreover, 65% say that the overall policy is good for London." Who's right? Don't know, be we do konw that someone's wrong. Unless 74 and 61 make 100 in some sort of new math.

This ongoing debate seems far from over. We're sure that more numbers will be thrown around from both camps (and just about anybody else who has an opinion) which support their viewpoints. Round and round we go!

[Source: What Car]

Lately, London Mayor Ken Livingstone has seen a great deal of press coverage regarding his efforts to increase the congestion charges in London, which caused Porsche to vehemently disagree with said charges. This is not Livingstone's only legislative issue these days, though, as he is also opposed to allowing motorcyclists access to London's bus lanes. He claims that there is "only a very small safety benefit for motorcyclists [versus] a larger disbenefit for other vulnerable road users. On this basis I do not propose to further allow motorcyclists to use bus lanes. Those who have advocated rushing though a change have clearly acted prematurely and irresponsibly. Such changes could have endangered the lives of cyclists and pedestrians."

What evidence does he point to? Transport for London's Road Safety Unit ran something is called the "Tanner Test," and the results are what Livingstone consulted. There's a looming issue about the test, though, as Chris Hodder, government relations executive for the British Motorcyclists Federation, has alleged that Livingstone's report was purposely doctored in order to remove evidence that casualties actually decreased by 42 percent when cyclists were allowed in bus lanes.

Craig Carey-Clinch, policy director for the Motorcycle Industry Association, put his thoughts very plainly into words when he said, "By doctoring the results to suit both his and his advisors' personal opinions, Livingstone has condemned cyclists and motorcyclists to greater vulnerability in London's traffic." That sounds like a very serious allegation to us. We'll be sure to keep you informed if more information regarding this case becomes available.

[Source: Motorcycle News]

The consultation period on London Mayor Ken Livingstone's revised congestion charge plan starts today. Getting in an opening salvo, the non-executive chairman of the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMIF), Alec Murray, says straight-up that the proposal won't work.

"The emissions of most private cars driven in central London fall below the highest proposed emissions-based congestion charge level , so it is questionable if the proposed plan will achieve its aim of further reducing central London traffic levels," he said in a statement.

Murray and the RMIF say the problem is that since there are so many new cars being sold that fall into the congestion charge waiver category (exactly what Citroën was advertising the other day), an emissions-based plan will not limit the amount of cars in downtown London.

While I take RMIF's point, Livingstone is working on this plan to "tackle climate change," not only to reduce the number of vehicles. I know the specifics matter, but 100 low-CO2 cars are better for the air than 75 high-CO2 ones, no? Of course, 50 bikes and 50 low-CO2 cars is even better...

[Source: Mayor of London, RMIF]

The Mayor of London Ken Livingstone recently announced a plan to change the current flat rate congestion charge into a sliding scale based on the vehicle's carbon dioxide emissions. The current £8-a-day charge for driving into central London would be replaced by a fee ranging from free for cars emitting less than 120g/km of CO2 to £25-a-day for cars putting out more than 225g/km.

The original plan that was scheduled for 2008 envisioned using cameras to recognize the license plate and charge the driver based on the vehicle type. The new plan would replace the cameras with a cheaper electronic tag system that would be read as you drive by and that won't be implemented until 2010. Although the new plan won't be fully implemented until 2010, Livingstone still plans to introduce discounts for cleaner cars starting in 2008.

[Source: AutoCar]

The mayor of London, England, Ken Livingstone, has released a new Climate Change Action Plan for the city, that goes beyond the existing congestion charges that have been in place for several years now. Carbon dioxide emissions have stayed flat in London since 1990 thanks to high usage rates for public transport. Currently, transport only comprises 22 percent of total emissions, and this can be improved by up to 30 percent by just getting people to buy the most efficient version of whatever car they choose to drive.

The plan also calls for making London homes more energy efficient and the city government will be offering discount priced attic and wall insulation to residents of the city. Lower income residents can get the insulation free of charge. Businesses will be encouraged to cut energy use by turning off lights and computers at night. Finally, Livingstone wants to move 25 percent of London's energy supply off the national grid to local generated energy systems by 2025. The plan calls for London to reduce CO2 emissions by 33 million tonnes annually by 2025, which would require an annual reduction of 4 percent annually. The whole plan can be found at the London government website at the Read link.

[Source: City of London Government via GreenCarCongress]

Londoners are responding to the expansion of the congestion charge for cars by snapping up clean cars, including 111 Prius hybrids at just one Toyota dealer, Jemca, in September. Mayor Ken Livingstone purchased one, and it was his policy to extend the £8-a-day charge for driving into Kensington and Chelsea starting next February that, in part, drove sales. By driving a Prius instead of a gas-guzzler and therefore avoiding the congestion charge, a driver can save up to £2000 a year. The Prius sales were helped by three other factors, Toyota said, including Prius taxis in London, celebrities (like Jude Law and Esther Rantzen) buying Priuses, and, get this, "Drivers' children are increasingly encouraging their parents to go green," according to Jemca's Roger Hart.

Non-hybrid but still fuel-efficient vehicles like the Yaris supermini, Corolla and Aygo also sold well at Jemca in September.

[Source: Toyota]