The UK Will Ban Petrol And Diesel New Car Sales From 2040
The UK is to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2040, in a move that matches a commitment already made by France.
Although the full details are yet to be published it’s thought that the move won’t stop petrol and diesel engines being part of drivetrains as long as they’re used in conjunction with electrification. The various types of petrol- or diesel-electric hybrids will almost certainly be allowed for a couple more decades after 2040.
The deadline is set at around the length of three full life cycles of a typical car, but with development of an all-new model normally starting between five and eight years before it goes on sale, there simply isn’t enough time to evolve today’s cars into a fully electric state. Nor is there enough time to find enough reliable extra electricity and capacity for the National Grid.
Most manufacturers already offer a degree of electrification, from mild hybrid superminis that cut the engine under deceleration to plug-in hybrid luxury saloons that can travel dozens of miles without using the engine. There are already plenty of full-electric cars, too.
The early information we have, as reported by the BBC, is that the new legislation will favour electric cars. That suggests to us that a new taxation regime will be put in place that slowly pushes people out of fossil-fuel-burning vehicles and into EVs. It’s likely that hybrids will be a halfway house, while petrols and diesels could be slapped with so much tax you’ll have to be a Premier League footballer to be able to afford to run one.
The move comes as political and public pressure to combat air pollution in London builds. Occasionally, parliament remembers that other cities exist, too, and wants to do something about the thousands of annual deaths that are put down to traffic fumes. We’ll keep an eye out for further details of the plans as they appear.
Comments
Governments worldwide need to stop listening to morons who hate everything car-related, and start listening to normal people. By forcing us into EV’s, they are depriving us of our right to choose what we drive. These awful governments haven’t even consulted with car enthusiasts before going ahead with the plans, yet they still pretend represent us. More car-enthusiasts need to be elected into parliament, because just now, we are completely unrepresented.
Don’t they notice that the process of actually creating the batteries for the battery powered cars it causes more pollution than a petrol car and diesel car produce in a long-term. By making the batteries it causes more pollution than air pollution. They will also need to build battery charging stations everywhere which means more pollution is created from building those. Since that battery cars doesn’t travel very far at all meaning also people can’t get to their destination at the time the intended to. There is lots of downsides to this! Have the government actually thought it through before saying this??
Diesel and petrol will soon be the analog of cars
Matt Kimberley, it is impossible to remove all the diesels. You can not simply make thousands of lorries disappear into nirvana. Also, who would bring the daily newspaper, food etc. to your hometown if not diesel trucks?
Pun incoming!
And who will be there to defend the Interpol against the bad guys, if not Vin Diesel?
Thank god i live on esp…but i better move to the states
And start building those 20 nuclear power plants to replace it. Well done UK .. you are on a roll after Brexit
You DONT HAVE A RELIABLE ELECTRICITY SOURCE THAT DOESNT POLLUTE THE ENVIRONMENT!! SO SHUT YA DAMN MOUTHS BECAUSE ELECTRICITY COMES FROM BURNING COAL!!
Politician tricks, try to brainwash the public and they will not succeed, because we will fight back.
The day they do it, I will blackmail their children for using fossil fueled smartphones and producing CO2
Key word is ‘new’. Buy old cars.
Seriously though - new cars have low emissions anyway. Make new cars cheap, and people will buy them as opposed to older, cheaper models. Simples.
A new Golf Gti (to take one example) is far out of price range for most people, whereas a good mk5 GTi maybe costs 5k.
It has to be financially viable for people to be green.