Oxford Is Banning Everything With An Engine - Starting In 2020

The British city of Oxford is going zero-emission from 2020, banning anything with an engine - including delivery vans - from a gradually increasing number of busy city streets

Matt Kimberley

Updated: 10 Oct 2024

Oxford Is Banning Everything With An Engine - Starting In 2020

Well, how do you like this? Anything Paris can do, Oxford can look down its nose at. The English city, famous for its university and for generally hating cars in general, has announced a zero-emission zone starting in 2020.

This ban is more clearly-worded than the others we’ve seen. It’s a straightforward zero-emission policy, banning petrol and diesel cars as well as any hybrid that has a fossil-fuel combustion engine. So, if you live just outside Oxford, work in the centre and have just bought a Porsche 918 Spyder thinking you’d be safe from low-emission zone restrictions, Oxford City Council would like to tell you to get bent.

Actually, it’s not quite that bad. In 2020 just a few streets will start operating a policy that sees every vehicle with an engine banned. Even taxis and buses will be affected. Gradually, the whole city will be added to the scheme and even HGVs will be stopped from entering to deliver goods. If there aren’t widely available (and financially viable) electric trucks and vans by then… well, the people of Oxford will be in trouble, won’t they.

The full scheme won’t be in place until 2035, but busy city centre streets will be metaphorically roped off to combustion engines in just over a couple of years. How, exactly, are deliveries going to be made? Will the postal services have to invest in electric vans just for Oxford? This reeks of poorly thought-out political point-scoring.

Oxford’s EV infrastructure growth plans at this point are pretty pathetic. There’s half a million pounds on tap for charging points for taxis, and £800,000 more for – wait for it – a whole 100 charging points for residents. Yep, £8000 each for something you can buy yourself for your home or office for comfortably less than £1000. That’s including fitting, too. Here, good CTzens, is typical British council mismanagement at its finest. Idiots.

Meanwhile, the population of Oxford is currently about 160,000. A hundred charging sockets isn’t going to cut it. The council is throwing this new legislation around while the actual practicalities of making it happen – we call it ‘common sense’ – has been forgotten. Well done, guys.

Comments

Oh dear.

Looks like im going to Cambrigde for university instead

My first thought 😂😂 Applying next year, and now I guess the decision has been made for me.

hahahahahah

Cambridge won’t be far behind, they have very eco-friendly inclinations too

Don’t buy their dictionaries either.

Same xD. Besides, Oxford seems to be mainly for humanities and essay subjects

Paris. Then Oxford. Next thing you know it’s going to be New York.

Never

San Francisco feels more natural compared to NYC. Sillicon Valley is there.

“Shitshitshit, everybody’s banning ICE, we gotta do something!”

“BAN ALL ENGINES, yeah that should do it”

“that didn’t work… ban all production of energy”

So true

It’s just not lol 😂 like look at the mayor of Paris he just took back what he said about this exact same thing, look at BoostAddict ‘s post

You mean She ? Current mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo

I guess Oxford is pretty committed to fall. There will be a lot of Nissan Leaves by 2020.

Stop banning fossil fuel engines and start making electric motor kits for classics.. Stop wasting the environment and start recycling old cars. I’d rather drive an old lincoln with an electric engine swap than a brand new nissan leaf.

if someone offers me an electric motor to put into my suzuki samurai and it gives me decent range then it’s a no brainer for me. dat torque boi.

Exactly my idea. Read my blog

And invest in renewable energy. But unfortunately this is the UK where most of the population are old NIMBYs who protest that the wind farm will “spoil the view” from their seaside house. I tell you what else would spoil the view: sea levels rising so that your house is flooded!

The market for restomodding old cars into EVs is miniscule compared to the market for new or used late model EVs.

No, I can’t quite express my hatred for electric classics, people don’t understand that an electric motor in a classic means it’s no longer a classic. It’s moronic, it’s all about looks at that point and you’re ruining a good car.