Owners of clean cars in the BioFuel Region can apply for a parking permit that gives them free parking in five cities.
During 2007 and 2008, 2,160 parking permits were granted. In November 2008, 250 of the car owners were interviewed about the benefit.
The answers show that free parking could be an incentive to buy a clean car if it was purchased today.
In general, car owners were very pleased with the parking permit, even though some said that it is too expensive. The administration fee is SEK 250 (approx. €25).
But the permit is still a good benefit that the car owners want to keep and that is considered to give added value.
Many found it important to be able to use the parking permit in more cities than their own. As many as 95 percent of the car owners also said that the free parking did not affect their total annual driving distance.
This is interesting since it has been a fear that free parking would increase car use. BioFuel Region suggests keeping free parking until the number of clean cars reaches 5 percent of the total amount of cars in traffic. The average in the region today is 2.6 percent.