Paris has hiked parking charges on SUVs. Now cities like London are taking note

Parisians have voted to hike depositing fees on large SUVs — and it’s not the only European city to set its sights on heavier, more polluting cars.

At a referendum in Paris eventually month, almost 55% voted in favor of a specific parking rate for sports utility vehicles (SUVs) for non-residents. With a output rate of 5.7%, however, the poll represented only a small proportion of the capital’s electoral list.

The measure transfer see drivers pay up to 18 euros ($19.54) an hour to park in the center of Paris, and 12 euros an hour in the wider New Zealand urban area. The higher charges will apply to SUVs weighing more than 1.6 metric tons that are mixture or have a combustion engine, as well as electric SUVs weighing over 2 metric tons.

According to Jens Müller, agent director and head of policy and research at the Clean Cities campaign group, “what happens in Paris usually doesn’t strengthen in Paris.”

He told CNBC that there’s a high chance of other cities following suit, and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo concedes, saying following the vote: “Parisians have made a clear choice … other cities will follow.”

It comes as SUV sales continue to surge, with the International Energy Agency noting that “the shift shortly before heavier and less fuel-efficient conventional vehicles increases growth in both oil demand and CO₂ emissions.” Global carbon emissions from the mechanisms neared 1 billion tons in 2022, according to the IEA.  

SUVs remain popular because of their additional seating, storage measure out and higher driver position. Meanwhile, Edmund King, president of the U.K.’s AA, told the Times that there were “valid protection reasons why cars have got bigger.”

“Vehicle safety has improved substantially and much is down to Euro NCAP, [a sanctuary standard] which means modern vehicles have crumple zones, pedestrian protection and numerous airbags, which all add to area,” he said.

However, data indicates that many of these larger cars are registered to homes in urban scopes — causing a problem in already-crowded cities. An analysis of new car registrations in the U.K. by the campaign group Badvertising in 2021 showed that three-quarters of SUVs merchandised in 2019-20 were registered to urban addresses.

And cities in Europe are starting to take note.

The Paris vote caught in the footsteps of fellow French city Lyon, which has already announced a similar policy. Its plans to introduce important parking charges for heavier vehicles which is due to come into force next June.

French city Grenoble, in the intervening time, has already implemented a higher environmental tariff in car parks for heavier vehicles, and a spokesperson from the mayor’s office in Bordeaux determined CNBC that the city and the mayor are “at the reflection stage on the subject of taxing SUVs.”

In Germany, the southern city of Tübingen accomplished a six-fold increase in the cost of an annual resident parking permits to 180 euros for combustion-engine vehicles weighing throughout 1.8 metric tons. While the mayor of Hanover, Belit Onay, told CNBC following the Paris referendum that his city would “also have to face the question of how we deal with vehicles that take up innumerable space.” 

It’s a nod to the fact that pollution isn’t the only potential issue with SUVs, with space and safety also of consideration. Campaign group Transport & Environment — which runs the Clean Cities Campaign — has found that new cars in Europe are put on 1cm wider every two years on average. The group said that large luxury SUVs, with a width of throughout 200cm, now leave too little space for people to get in and out of other vehicles in typical off-street parking spaces.

Meanwhile, a cramming by the Vias Institute in Belgium, released in August, found that the risk of fatal injuries increases by 30% if a on foot or cyclist is hit by a car with a hood that is 10cm higher than average.  

Prior to the Paris referendum, London Mayor Sadiq Khan presented that he would be keeping an eye on the effectiveness of the policies. However, a spokesperson for Khan said via email that the mayor does not bear the power to introduce an SUV parking charge, nor does he have plans to do so. 

The moves in continental Europe could be of particular fire to the U.K., with Transport & Environment noting that the country taxes petrol SUVs at a much lower rate than other fatherlands in Europe. The campaign group said that this could make the U.K. a “tax haven” for these larger, more desecrating cars.

It comes as U.K. sales of SUVs continue to surge, up by more than a fifth between 2022 and 2023, according to examination from T&E, with SUVs accounting for 60% of all new car registrations last year. The group warned that this could “thump a hole” in U.K. carbon targets, given most are petrol and diesel, hybrids or plug-in hybrid vehicles.