Tokyo Metropolitan Government To Mandate Fuel-Efficient Cars for Large Private Fleets
24 January 2009
The Nikkei reports that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government plans to require businesses owning 200 or more vehicles to fill at least 5% of their fleets with fuel-efficient vehicles from fiscal 2011. This is the first such proposal of its kind by a local government in Japan.
Both gasoline and diesel vehicles will be covered. Some 180 businesses in Tokyo—including trucking companies, taxi and bus operators, and banks—are believed to own 200 vehicles or more. Tokyo estimates that the requirement will lead to slightly more than 10% of their roughly 120,000 vehicles being replaced with fuel-efficient ones.
Fuel-efficient vehicles will be defined as those satisfying fuel economy standards set by the central government that automakers must comply with by fiscal 2015. These standards will require 2-liter-class passenger cars to be able to travel at least 16 km per liter of gasoline [6.25 L/100km or 37.6 mpg US].
Tokyo has set a goal of cutting CO2 emissions 25% from 2000 levels by 2020. The transportation sector accounted for 26% of total CO2 emissions in Tokyo in 2005.
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