On the bad day of air pollution, an EV preferential policy of 'reducing the speed limit other than electric cars' will be introduced

By Julian M

Hazardous substances in the atmosphere increase One cause of air pollution is exhaust gas from automobiles. In Austria in Europe, when the air pollution degree gets worse, the maximum speed of the highway can be lowered, but in that case measures are taken to take preferential treatment of electric vehicles (EV) that do not emit waste gas.

Electric cars are getting a higher speed limit than gas cars during air pollution warnings in Austria - Electrek
https://electrek.co/2018/10/29/electric-cars-higher-speed-limit-than-gas-cars-ev-incentive-austria/

To promote the spread of EV, the Austrian government announced three incentives for EV. Besides being able to run a bus exclusive lane and "free parking in the city", it is a privilege of "excluding subjects to reduce the speed upper limit on highway" alongside.

Basically, the speed limit set for the highway in Austria is 130 km / h, but when the air pollution gets worse, the upper limit is lowered to 100 km / h. Generally, as automobiles running on fossil fuels run at higher speeds, the amount of exhaust gas to be discharged increases, so it is an attempt to reduce the emission of harmful substances by reducing the speed.

Although it is a measure that can be expected to be effective as air pollution countermeasures, on the other hand, for EVs that do not emit any exhaust gas, there is almost no relationship between air pollution and speed. Therefore, the Austrian government has decided to exclude EV from the object of the speed limit in the section of the total length of 440 km imposed upon exceeding the standard value based on the Air Pollution Law (IG - L).

By Li-ion Motors Electric Vehicle

Of course, it is necessary to consider exhaust gas from the power plant that produces electricity, but by utilizing solar power generation and wind power generation, it becomes possible to drastically reduce air pollutants related to EV. Similar measures are taken in Belgium as well.

By Bibi Pü