What is it?
My Car Plan is a plan to reduce automobile emissions, based on
research conducted by the
French Council of Economic Analysis with the help of UFC Que
Choisir and BPI France.
The objective: reduce emissions from individual transport by 15% in 5 years,
at a manageable cost for households, manufacturers,
and public finances.
How? A pragmatic plan in three steps: Keep, Cut
, Commit.
To learn more:
Check out our research and data or the FAQ.
Coverage: Le Monde, l’Opinion, Le Nouvel OBS.
1. Keep
If you drive little (in Europe, say less than 8,000 km per year), you are the ideal owner of a used combustion vehicle.
What does this mean? If you drive less than 8,000 km per year, you would likely reduce CO2 emissions more by keeping your used combustion vehicle than by buying an electric vehicle.
Why? Unless you scrap your combustion vehicle, it will be bought by a household that drives significantly more than 8,000 km per year on average.
Do you own a combustion vehicle and are considering buying an electric vehicle? The best strategy is to keep your combustion vehicle, but use it very little, for example for weekend shopping or long vacation trips. Buy a small electric vehicle with a modest-sized battery for your daily trips.
Do you drive a lot? If you drive more than 15,000 km per year, consider a hybrid or electric vehicle, new or used.
A practical rule: if possible, favor used or electric vehicles over buying a new combustion vehicle, which will emit CO₂ for many years.
2. Cut
Don't feel guilty about using a used combustion vehicle. Instead, reduce your fuel consumption by 10%, starting today.
Why? By 2050, an immediate 10% reduction in vehicle use across the entire fleet has a comparable effect, in terms of GHG emissions and warming, to an accelerated electrification of new vehicle sales.
Two reasons for this: (1) the car fleet renews slowly; (2) the sooner we act, the more we limit temperature rise.
How to do it? Essentially by being thrifty.
- Use fuel-efficient driving to consume less gas without changing your trips by: driving smoothly, driving at the speed limit on highways, and regularly checking your tire pressure.
- Switch to usage-based insurance to pay more attention to your usage over time and be rewarded for your efforts.
- Give up 1 trip out of 10, by grouping your travels or by using public transport, cycling or walking, once a week.
3. Commit
For the EV transition to be successful, many economic actors (car manufacturers, infrastructure operators, local governments...) must coordinate significant investments.
If the demand for electric vehicles is low in the short term, these actors risk panicking and not investing, unless the government offers subsidies that have become very costly for public finances.
To avoid this, we need to provide a strong signal of future demand!
According to your possibilities, we ask you to make up to three personal commitments known via the form below.
Commitment 1: My next vehicle will be electric.
Your commitment allows transition actors to better plan their investments. In return, you will be given priority access to a subsidized purchase plan that we are setting up with our partners, to help you better buy your next vehicle.
Commitment 2: I sign up and participate in the My Car Plan community.
You agree to receive emails from us that may invite you to participate in research surveys, offer you discount coupons from our partners, or simply keep you informed. Maintaining contact with you will allow us to better understand your needs, as well as the measures that work or don't work.
Commitment 3: I share the My Car Plan site with my contacts.
For My Car Plan to have an impact, we need to interest as many people as possible. Without this, we will not be able to convince private and public actors of the merits of our pragmatic yet ambitious approach. If you agree, we will send you a link to share with those of your contacts who might be interested, and to initiate a conversation.
Ready to Make an Impact?