Taxis and rental cars in cities in The Netherlands to be zero-emission by 2025

The Netherlands is to restrict all newly registered taxi and rental cars in the big cities to zero-emission vehicles after 2025. Other parts of the country are allowed until 2030. This comes about after the policy decision to allow municipalities to introduce zero-emission zones in cities, however these zero-emission zones can now also include taxis.

The agreement has been signed by the Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Eindhoven and Tilburg municipalities alongside Uber, SchipholTaxi, Bolt and Leaseplan representing the industry. The Amsterdam municipality starts ahead of the curve as they have already introduced taxi ranks which only zero-emission taxis can use. Amsterdam Schipol Airport has also introduced these zero-emission zones in its taxi ranks.

The zero-emission vehicles can include battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCEVs). The policy provides different amounts of time to transition to a zero-emission vehicle, depending on the age of the vehicle. Newer vehicles are allowed a longer time period to change as they have already recently invested money into their business. This is also due to the fact that there are no subsidies planned to help in switching to the new vehicle.