Electric car owners are no longer protected in the Municipality of Copenhagen. Compared to 2023, they will have to pay six times more to park.
The price of parking permits for electric cars in Copenhagen has increased significantly in the past two years. In 2023, electric car owners in the capital could be content with paying 215 kroner annually for a parking permit. In 2024, the price increased to 1200 kroner, which is a six-fold increase in just two years.
This price increase has been criticized by the drivers' organization, FDM, who believe it is a step in the wrong direction, as higher parking fees could discourage people from buying electric cars.
FDM's chief consultant, Dennis Lange, tells TV2 Kosmopol that it is important to make electric cars attractive to promote the green transition.
However, it is not the municipalities themselves that benefit from the increased revenue from parking licenses. The money instead goes to the state. An overview of the municipalities' parking revenue from 2023 shows that the total revenue was over one billion kroner. Two-thirds of this amount came from the Municipality of Copenhagen.
Copenhagen Airport is another major recipient of parking revenue. Although the final figures for 2024 have not yet been published, figures for the first nine months of the year show that drivers paid 317 million kroner to park at the airport.
The increasing parking fees for electric cars in Copenhagen are a sign of a general trend. Several municipalities have raised the prices of parking licenses, and this is hitting electric car owners especially hard.
The question is whether the six-fold increase in parking prices will have a negative effect on the sale of electric cars. If it becomes too expensive to park your electric car, it may cause potential buyers to choose a petrol or diesel car instead.
It is therefore important to find a balance between promoting electric cars and ensuring a fair distribution of parking revenues.
It is also worth considering whether there are alternative solutions that can make owning an electric car more attractive in the city. For example, offering free parking at selected times or giving electric car owners access to special parking zones.
Whatever happens, it is clear that the parking policy in Copenhagen has a major impact on the everyday lives of electric car owners. The six-fold increase in parking license prices is a problem that must be taken seriously if the capital is to be promoted towards a green transition.
