Switzerland wants to limit the maximum speed to 80 km/h due to fuel shortages. Options include no limits for electric vehicles.

Switzerland is beginning to prepare for fuel shortages caused by conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, and the United States and Iran. Options under consideration include reducing the maximum speed on highways to 80 km/h, a violation that is strictly punished in Switzerland. Among the proposals from activists is also maintaining the current limits (120 km/h on highways) for electric vehicles, though little is known yet about the details of any regulations.

Slow driving due to fuel shortages

Switzerland is not a country as well-provided and wealthy as Poland, so it is slowly preparing for a situation where fuel supplies will need to be rationed. Currently, the focus is on gasoline and diesel: kerosene supplies are already “at risk,” while the situation with diesel is “tense and closely monitored.” In both cases, it was decided to draw from strategic reserves to stabilize the market, and the Federal Office for Economic Supply (BWL) proposed reducing the maximum speed on highways.

The proposed 80 km/h limit has never been in effect in Switzerland. Even on expressways, the limit has always been 100 km/h. Meanwhile, motorways had no limit (up to 1973), 100 km/h (1973), 130 km/h (1974), and finally 120 km/h (since 1984; source). Supply issues stem from both armed conflicts and delivery difficulties caused by bad weather in France and low river levels in the Rhine. It is not yet known under what conditions the 80 km/h limit would take effect or what potential benefits such a restriction on roads might bring.

Tesla Model X against the backdrop of the Swiss Alps. Illustrative photo (c) Jako Hearter / Flickr

Activists and some local media suggest that if new limits are implemented, they should not apply to electric vehicles, as they are not dependent on petroleum-based fuels. This type of solution exists in Austria: on sections where the IG-L symbol (indicating air pollution problems caused by traffic) is displayed, gasoline-powered cars can travel at 100 km/h, while electric vehicles remain subject to the existing limit of 130 km/h. The decision to reduce the maximum speed to 80 km/h in Switzerland may be made and implemented by the country’s Federal Council—the equivalent of Poland’s government, which elects a president from its ranks.

IG-L sign displayed on an highway in Austria

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