About 14 million aging cars and motorcycles in the country consume nearly 20 billion liters of gasoline annually; an amount equivalent to 40 percent of the total gasoline consumption in the country, which exacerbates fuel imbalance and air pollution in major cities. This situation indicates an urgent need for the renewal and replacement of the aging fleet.
Effects of High Fuel Consumption
As the age of vehicles increases, fuel consumption in real urban and intercity traffic conditions significantly rises. The cost of this waste is imposed not only on households but also on the national economy. A significant portion of the high consumption is not solely related to increased travel but is also attributed to the poor quality of the operating fleet. A fleet that consists largely of aging cars and motorcycles.
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Worrying Statistics
According to existing data and statistics, the share of aging vehicles in the country's gasoline consumption is significantly high. The total gasoline consumption in the country is about 49.3 billion liters annually. Of this amount, aging passenger cars alone consume about 8.3 billion liters, and aging motorcycles consume nearly 12 billion liters of gasoline. These statistics indicate a critical situation of fuel imbalance and air pollution in the country.
Mohammad Sadegh Hatami, head of the fleet renewal and vehicle scrapping headquarters, announced that there are about 1.9 million aging passenger cars and nearly 700,000 aging pickups in the country. Additionally, in the motorcycle sector, it is estimated that between 5 to 8 million aging units are currently in operation. Hatami also noted that the fuel consumption of about 14 million aging vehicles is equivalent to 1.5 times the daily fuel imbalance in the country.
Solutions for Fleet Renewal
Renewing the aging fleet can significantly help reduce gasoline consumption and improve air quality. If just one million aging passenger cars are renewed and replaced, it would lead to an annual reduction of about 1.2 billion liters in consumption, and if 4 million aging motorcycles are also retired and replaced with new models, approximately 2.1 billion liters would be saved.
In the past 20 years, a total of 2.67 million vehicles have been scrapped, and only in the last three-year period, 680,000 vehicles have been scrapped. This volume of scrapping has resulted in savings of nearly two billion liters of fuel and the return of 440,000 tons of raw materials to the production cycle of industries.
Therefore, targeted renewal of the aging fleet can be considered one of the fastest solutions for reducing gasoline consumption and controlling fuel imbalance. This action is not just a transportation project; it should be regarded as a national energy management project.
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