Mobility Basic Figures

The private car transport in 2008 represented 82% of all road mobility generated with a associated energy consumption of 256,022 x 103 TJ (6,115 million tonnes of oil equivalent), corresponding to 23% of energy consumption national total. However, it is notable that Portugal is the country in Europe with the lowest average emissions (g/km CO2) on sales ofnew vehicles: 138 g/km (representing a 18% reduction compared to 2000), as opposed to 154 g/km of the EU-25 recorded in 2008.

The Portuguese car association ACAP estimates that the passenger vehicle stock in Portugal has grown from about 1.6 million cars in 1990 to almost 4 million cars in 2007. Diesel cars increased their market share continuously and represent currently more than 25% of the vehicle stock. Regarding the development of alternative car types in recent years gas driven cars (LPG) have decreased in number, their market share in 2007 was less than 0.4 %. As far as biofuels are concerned, the market penetration will not appear through the vehicle stock as the Portuguese strategy is mainly focused in mixing biofuels with diesel oil or gasoline. For hybrid cars, the market development is recent and has induced a very small market share (less than 0.1% in 2007). For other alternative fuels sells are negligible (e.g. electric vehicles) or any (e.g. fuel cell vehicles). According to the EU funded project BEST there are no flexifuel vehicles introduced in the Portuguese market yet.

The statistics of the Portuguese Association of Natural Gas Vehicles (Associação Portuguesa do Veículo a Gás Natural; APVGN) provides a detailed list of natural gas vehicles currently in usage by public institutions in Portugal. According to this there are 334 buses (used by various public transport companies, i.e. Collective Transportation Society of Porto, Carris de Lisboa, Transportes Urbanos de Braga), 38 Trucks and 46 light vehicles running by CNG. The introduction of electric bus in Portugal was preceded by several years of events and demonstrations at local authorities. This was crucial to the acceptability of electrical vehicles. As a result 5 cities adopted the electric vehicles: Coimbra, Portalegre, Viseu, Viana do Castelo. Later Funchal (Madeira) also bought 4 electric buses. There are right now 18 Electric Buses Gulliver running regular urban bus lines in 6 capitals of districts in Portugal.

The webpage www.apvgn.pt list five CNG filling stations in Portugal, all related to public transport companies (Braga, Porto, Aveiro, Lisbon, São João da Talha (Municipality of Loures). According to the information sources provided by the EU funded project Su:gre: only the CNG refuelling station in Braga at the Public BUS Company allows public access.

The geo-information system European Environmental Atlas lists 83 LPG refuelling stations distributed all around the country. The geo-information system www.metanoauto.com/modules.php lists one biogas refuelling stations in Portugal (Braga).

The first biodiesel fuelling station in the country has opened in September 2005 in the premises of Public Hygiene, Municipal Company (HPEM) in Vila Verde (Sintra). The installation of this station is within the scope of a project developed by HPEM in collaboration with the Municipal Energy Agency of Sintra (AMES), TOTAL Portugal and the Municipal Water and Sanitation Sintra (SMAS) have the aim to promote the collection of used cooking oil into biodiesel and subsequent conversion to consumption in the municipal fleet of vehicles HPEM. However, according to the European funded projects BEST and PROCURA there are currently no publicly accessible refuelling facilities for bioethanol and E85 flexifuel in Portugal.

The geo-information system www.h2stations.org list one hydrogen refuelling station in the Porto region which is however out of operation. As part of the EC funded CUTE-project the station supplied 3 buses with hydrogen.

Within the “Programma do XVIII Governo Constitucional” the Portuguese government plans the establishment of a pilot network for the electric mobility in Portugal that ensures adequate coverage for the launch of electric mobility. First plugs are planned to be installed after 2010. The webpage www.lemnet.org/LEMnet_Land.asp lists 54 public accessible recharging points for electro vehicles in Portugal.

Fiscal Incentives

For the purchase of all kind of vehicles there is a Value Added Tax of 20%. Since 2007, the policy for car taxation is to transfer tax burden from tax on acquisition (Imposte sobre Veiculos, ISV) to the annual tax on ownership/circulation tax (Imposto Unico de Circulacao, IUC). Both are calculated on basis of cylinder capacity and CO2 emission level. The registration tax for Gasoline cars varies between <= 115 CO2 g/km = CO2 amount * 3,57 EUR – 335.58 for the lowest emission class to > 195 CO2 g/km: CO2 amount * 127.03 EUR – 20,661.74 for the highest class as well as for diesel cars <= 95 CO2 g/km = CO2 amount * 17,18 EUR – 1,364.61 for the lowest emission class to > 160 CO2 g/km: CO2 amount * 166.53 EUR – 20,761.61 for the highest class. The annual circulation tax is < 120 CO2 g/km = 51.1EUR, 120 – 180 g/km = 76.6 EUR and > 180 g/km = 265.3 EUR. For LPG, NG and hybrid gasoline vehicles the CO2-part of ISV provides a 50% tax reduction. Pure electric vehicles are exempted from the IUC. For old passenger cars (registration until 2007), tax remains based on cylinder capacity. The tax on ownership for commercial vehicles depends on weight, axles and suspension. Since 2009, an income tax reduction of 30% up to 796 EUR is provided as an incentive for the purchasing electric vehicles or passenger cars exclusively using RES as fuel.

During 2008 to 2010 purchasers of a new vehicle emitting a maximum 130 g/km CO2 receive an incentive of 1,000 EUR, if they have an car which is 10 years old or more scrapped simultaneously (1,250 EUR if the car is more than 15 years old). In 2010 the tax incentive was reduced to 750 EUR for a 10 year old car and 1,000 EUR for an 15 year old car respectively (Article 106 of Law no. 3 -B/2010). For the purchase of electric vehicles and the slaughtering of vehicles on their end of lifetime, for individuals an incentive of 5,000 EUR is set for companies; a deduction of 50% in Corporate Income Tax related to the purchasing price.

The excise duty on fuels is 0.583 EUR/litres for gasoline, 0.364 EUR/litres for diesel, and 0.054 EUR/litre for LPG. Natural gas and biofuels are exempted from excise tax. All this issues are laid down in Decree-Law 66/2006.

Funding

The PRIME programme aims to support the use of renewable energy projects. The programme grants subsidies to public and private organisations for investment projects in four categories: Renewables for electricity generation; energy management measures and co-generation; green fuels for transport fleets; fuel switching to natural gas. Subsidies vary according to renewable-type and project economic feasibility, but in general correspond to approximately 40% of the investment.

Decree-Law No. 70-B/2000 approved a legal framework of reference for the creation of a set of tools to promote the development of national economy to achieve gains in productivity and competitiveness in the global market. This also comprises the funding of extra cost of purchasing vehicles whose engines are equipped with devices to limit emissions of gaseous and particulate pollutants. The funding schema is as follows:

1.    For vehicles to transport passengers to a maximum weight exceeding 3.5 tons capacity exceeding nine seats (including driver):

• 3,000 EUR for vehicles weighing less than 16 gross tons;

• 5,000 EUR for vehicles with a gross weight exceeding 16 tons;

2.    In the case of vehicles transporting goods from gross weight exceeding 3.5 tonnes:

• 3,000 EUR for vehicles weighing less than 19 gross tons;

• 5,000 EUR for vehicles with gross weight less than 19 tons;

3.    2,200 EUR for vehicles to transport passengers to 3.5 tons gross weight for up to nine seats.

In 2010 a financial incentive was set up for fleet renewal in the sector of public transport. Under the order no. 13878/2010 the Secretary of State for Transport sets the total amount of incentives to be allocated on 5,500,000 EUR. However, no specific funding criterion related to environmental friendly vehicle technology was included.

Regulation

Definition of clean vehicle: Decreto-Lei no. 13/2002 transposes Directive No 1999/96/EC of the European Parliament and Council into national law. The law introduced permissive emission limit values on carbon monoxide carbon oxides and unburned hydrocarbons of nitrogen from diesel engines that are applicable to vehicles defined as 'Environment-friendly vehicles "(ATV).

In principle Portugal has decided to introduce an energy efficiency labelling system also for vehicles. According to publications of the Portuguese Environment Agency and Portuguese Energy Agency there are no final conclusions yet on the energy labelling of vehicles.

The Portuguese Council of Ministers adopted in March 2006 by Decree-Law 62/2006 the EU Directive 2003/30/EC establishing the minimum of 2% of biofuels and other renewable fuels in the market for 2005 and 5.75% for 2010. It includes the following measures to promote the use of biofuels:

• the possibility of imposing minimum quotas for biofuels in fossil fuels, where the amount incorporated in the preceding year was significantly lower  than expected.
• the conclusion of agreements on the use of biodiesel in public passenger and goods transport fleets, with over 10% biodiesel incorporation into fossil fuels.

The Public Contract Code entered into force on July 2008, establishes the regime applicable to public procurement. The code performs the transposition of Directives no 2004/17 and 2004/18 into national Portuguese law. The code also provides the creation of a central internet portal dedicated to public procurement, which aggregates information on public procurement. The portal BASE (www.base.gov.pt) was established and is operated jointly by the Institute of Construction and Real Estate (INCI) and the National Agency of Public Procurement (ANCP).

The ANCP was established by Decree - Law No. 37/2007 which aims, among others, centralization of the public procurement and the introduction of environmental criteria in procurement of the state as part of the national strategy for Green Public Procurement 2008 -2010. Its creation is part of the restructuring programme for the State's Central Administration as defined by Resolution the Council of Ministers No. 39/2006 particularly in the field of management of the national system of public procurement and the management of the large public vehicle fleet. The national system for public procurement, under the leadership of ANCP ensuring greater accuracy, transparency and competitiveness in the procurement and contribute effectively to the rationalization of expenditures and streamlining of procedures for public supply. The ANCP defined a new management model for the public vehicle fleet which relies on three main pillars:

• Adjusting the existing legal framework by a specific law related to the procurement of vehicles (Decree -Law No. 170/2008), their regulatory ordinances (Ordinances No. 382/2009 and No. 383/2009 and Orders No 7378/2009 and No 7382/2009,) and Order Centralizing No. 13478/2009 which defines the conduct of procurement procedures of purchases in the categories of motor vehicles and motorcycles and auto insurance as an exclusive competence of ANCP;
• Launch of public tenders for agreement framework for supplier selection of cars and motorcycles and for selection of service providers auto insurance;
• Definition, implementation and availability of services and entities for users of the public fleet management system (SGPVE), which is the single information system to support the state's fleet.

Decree-Law No. 170/2008 contributes to a better preservation of the environment in accordance with the GPP strategy. The following objectives are to be achieved in 2010:

• 50% of pre-contractual procedures public to purchase goods or services contemplated strategy should include environmental criteria;
• 50% of the value of public procurement of goods and services covered in the strategy, whose procedures.

In conjunction to the above it was defined that for the procurement of all categories of new vehicles there should be required a maximum of consumption of fuel per mile and / or emissions of carbon dioxide per kilometres, noting the best available technology associates. The following environmental criteria for vehicles were set:

1.    The procurement of vehicles for the public fleet managed by ANCP shall be done on basis of CO2 emission standards that changes during the years following the technological progress as follows:

Maximum emission value CO” g/km

2.    For the application of environmental criteria set out the vehicles to be purchased annually by each ministry or by each public institution have to follow certain quotes that changes during the years following the technological progress as follows:

Quotes for the procurement of environmental friendly vehicles in %

3.    The vehicles referred to in the previous criteria have to be equipped with a diesel propulsion system and should provide level emissions of particles smaller than 0.005 g / km, as constant of the relevant certificate of conformity.

4.    The environmental criteria shall not apply to the procurement of vehicles that fall in the segments 'vans' "chassis-cab 'and' pick up '.

With its actual work plan the Portuguese have set even stronger environmental criteria, i.e. to ensure by 2015 that 50% of vehicles purchased by the state have to be hybrids or electric and that by 2020 750,000 vehicles have to be hybrids or electric.

The autonomic region of Madeira has also implemented a central purchasing system (Pyrame) which, similar to ANCP, manage the entire lifetime of the public vehicle fleet.

Before ANCP has started its operation regional and local institutions have carried out the procurement of vehicles by themselves, partly considering Green Public Procurement roles, i.e. in 2004 Almada Municipality fleet accounts for 6 passenger light hybrid vehicles purchased after self imposed energy and environmental criteria. It was defined that no light passenger car to be bought by the municipality should emit more than 165 g/km.

Within the EU funded project PROCURA the fleet of the municipality of Lisbon was chosen to be the main pilot study target fleet, given its attractiveness and its willingness to shift to alternative fuels. The main objective was the development of a green fleet procurement application and subsequent evaluation of this application to the particular context of the Lisbon area. Due to unexpected problems, the mayor of Lisbon Municipality resigned in June 2007. Because of this, the municipal contacts had to be renewed to ensure good execution of the project, although the final result was not as successful as expected.

Programma do XVIII Governo Constitucional

Regulamento n.º 330/2009 - Regulamento do Sistema Nacional de Compras Públicas

Espacho n.º 7382/2009

Decreto-Lei n.º 170/2008

Portaria n.º 1554-A/2007

Estratégia Nacional para as Compras Públicas Ecológicas 2008-2010

Decreto-Lei n.o 13/2002

Despacho nº 9387/2001 (2ª. Série) – O Decreto-Lei nº 70-B/2000, de 5 de Maio

DECRETO-LEI N.º 292-A/2000

Estrategia local para as alteracoes climaticas

FICHA DE AVALIAÇÃO DE VEÍCULO

Manual de eco-condução