In Latvia, electric cars make up 1% of the total car fleet, but not in the Old Town and Riga city center. In some parking lots, every other car is electric.
This is because in Riga, even the most expensive paid parking spaces allow electric cars to be parked for free.
If you want to leave your petrol or diesel car in the Old Town for the whole day, you will have to pay €141. But not for electric car owners - they can park for free as long as they like.
Presumably, drivers who can afford an electric car would also be able to pay to park in the city center, but this is a discount deliberately introduced by the Riga City Council to incentivize the use of electric cars.
When it was introduced in 2016, electric cars were rare, but over the past decade, the number of electric cars (including hybrid models) in Latvia has quintupled to more than 8,000. And now the Old Town has become a giant parking lot.
"The statistics we have now show that the Old Town is seeing quite an influx of electric cars. In principle, if we look, only 5% are those who pay full price to park their car in the Old Town. So most of them are electric cars, plus, I'm sorry to say, there is also some scamming with disabled stickers," said Olafs Pulks (New Unity), chair of the Riga City Council's Traffic and Transport Committee.
Rīga councilors think the incentives should remain, but Pulks acknowledged that something should be done about the Old Town.
"As far as the Old Town is concerned, maybe we need to start a discussion about the fact that a car cannot be in one place, say all day long, that the person comes in the morning, I don't know, works and leaves, that after a few hours, it should move, at least to somewhere else. Or reduce the possibility to park for free in the Old Town for more than two hours," said Pulks.
There have been informal talks about possible changes to parking arrangements in the Old Town, but no written draft yet.
Since April 2022, the State has been supporting citizens in purchasing zero-emission or low-emission cars through a special program. The program has seen a particular surge in recent months, with demand peaking in September when the state co-financing approached one million euros per month.
In total, €10 million has been co-financed over two and a half years for the purchase of 2,500 electric cars.
Both new and used, which have become more popular in recent months. Most buyers are in Riga and the vicinity.
The responsible ministry is yet to assess how successful the electric car support program has been.
"We will definitely assess by the end of the year - the program ends at the end of the year - what the demand is, how many people are interested. We can already see that the interest is very supportive. One in three people who apply for an electric car or a hybrid is a large family. That shows that people are interested," says Climate and Energy Minister Kaspars Melnis (Greens and Farmers Union).
However, it is doubtful that the €15 million available to support the purchase of electric cars will be spent by the end of the year at the current pace. About a third is still left.
