More than 30% of transport vehicles purchased annually by public authorities, including minibuses and buses, will be powered by natural gas, hydrogen or electricity, according to a bill adopted by the Romanian Senate on April 12. The Chamber of Deputies is the decisional chamber in this issue. Such an obligation will not be imposed on private companies earlier than 2020.

“Local governments, autonomous administrations and companies subordinated to administrative-territorial units will purchase public transportation units driven by propulsion engines running on electricity, green technologies such as Electric, Hybrid, Hybrid Plug-in, Hydrogen (FCV), on propulsion engines running on compressed natural gas, and by LNG and biogas-based propulsion engines to a minimum of 30% of its future purchases. The percentage will be calculated on the total number of vehicles purchased in one year”, says the bill.

Romania joins a plethora of countries like the Netherlands, Norway, Austria or India to encourage the commercialization of vehicles powered by alternative fuels. Recently, the first chamber of the Dutch parliament adopted a law that prohibits the sale of diesel and gasoline cars from 2025.

In Austria is under discussion the introduction of a carbon tax that would cause a gradual transition to electric vehicles, indicates a report issued by the Environment Agency in this country. Regarding Norway, this state has the most advanced purchase program to support alternative fuel cars in all of Europe.