Love with biofuels may lead to wrong choices in transport

Finnish love with biofuels as a key approach to reduce emissions has made the Nordic country one of the least active Western European countries to prepare for the arrival of electric car era, an expert said on Wednesday.

Pekka Leviakangas, senior researcher at the Technology Research Centre, VTT told Xinhua that Finland's relatively low auto emission compared with other nations has also contributed to the slowness.

Although the Finnish government has aimed to see at least 250,000 electric cars on road by 2030, experts believe the figure is unfeasible without decisive governmental measures.

In the spring, the government allocated an extra funding of a hundred million euros on low emission transport, but the target for the usage has not been decided.

As electric cars are expensive for the time being, the Finnish efforts to curb emissions are likely to be concentrating partially on encouraging the transition to use biofuels. And the ratio remains open.

In France, it was decided in June that petrol and diesel powered cars could not be sold after 2040.

In Finland, Minister for Transport and Communications Anne Berner told local media that the government had not considered banning the sale of autos using fossil fuels. She said she hoped a positive development could be triggered through economic and functional benefits.

Kai Mykkänen, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, suggested in July that electric charging facilities would have to be made compulsory on petrol stations along major highways.

Annual sales of electric private cars in Finland remain at the level of a few hundreds, and their users have complained about the need to plan long haul journeys with a view to the availability of electricity. And electric buses are mainly in city commuter services.

Researcher Leviakangas from VTT noted incentive to use alternative electric cars was not enough in Finland. And the option of biofuels has become a "politically correct" thinking.

"Finland is also behind the rest of the Nordic countries in introducing low emission automobiles," said the expert, who believes the role of the government is of key importance in choosing future alternatives.

Leviakangas assured, however, that Finland would have the capability of switching to electric cars along the pace of the rest of Europe.

"The signals from European auto industry are also such that the industry is evaluating the image value of electric car production," he noted, "and the biofuel option is becoming marginal."

The Finnish automobile industry is basically assembling private cars, but Leviakangas said the Finnish auto industry has expertise in the field of electric cars as well. Electric buses are being produced in Finland.

For Finland, the road transport is also an issue related to taxation. Fuel taxation is a major source of public income.

Leviakangas believed taxation could in some way be switched to electric cars. "It could either be kilometer based usage fees or taxation levied on using energy."