Only EVs and hybrids for the UK soon.
Following the French government ruling to ban internal-combustion cars by 2040, the UK has decided to do the same thing, decreeing that all new cars by then must feature some degree of electrification. In its announcement, the UK environmental secretary Michael Gove said, “Today’s plan sets out how we will work with local authorities to tackle the effects of roadside pollution caused by dirty diesels, particularly nitrogen dioxide.”
Transport secretary Chris Grayling said that this move was a “green revolution,” and is part of the UK’s desire to to have “nearly every car and van on UK roads to be zero-emissions by 2050.” To back the move, the government has pledged £100-million ($165-million) to procure “new, low-emission busses, and retrofitting older busses with cleaner engines.”
*Michael Gove, UK Secretary of State for Environment, Food, Rural Affairs
A further £600-million ($989-million) was allotted earlier for “the development, manufacture, and utilisation of ultra-low emissions vehicles” by the year 2020, with an additional £100-million ($165-million) set aside to improve electric vehicle charging facilities. The UK is, according to the government, one of 17 European nations in contravention of EU nitrogen dioxide regulations. A survey conducted on some 1800 roads determined that 4% of roads (or 81 routes) produce excess emissions, with almost half of those roads ling outside of central London.
"Due to the highly-localised nature of the problem, local knowledge will be crucial in solving pollution problems in these hotspots,” the government said in a statement. At the time of the announcement, it appeared that anything with an internal combustion combustion engine wouldn’t be permitted to go on sale. Since then however, it has been clarified that hybrid vehicles would be exempt from the restrictions.
*Chris Grayling, UK Secretary of State for Transport
Not many other details were offered with the announcement, though initial plans are due in March of next year, while finalised plans will be tabled at the end of 2018. A scrappage scheme for older cars isn’t being mentioned, though the UK has had a plan like that in place in the past, and it may make a reemergence as part of the governments’ plans to drastically meet emissions regulations.
Aston Martin boss Andy Palmer wasn’t happy with the announcement prior to the clarification without hybrids, saying that the ban would be “disastrous or pointless” and would put the jobs of some 800,000 people in the UK auto industry at risk. Speaking to Autocar, Palmer said that carmakers “would be forced to stop building our own engines,” and source them from companies in Japan, China and Korea, companies that have “been working on it with government aid for years.”
*Andy Palmer, CEO of Aston Martin
However, he did say that “in 2040, there won’t be a pure combustion car, because hybridisation and plug-in hybridisation will be there with room to spare.” He even went on to say that the 2040 deadline was too far back, saying that “plug-in hybrids will represent 40%” of new car sales by 2030, “so the band would be late.” He reckons that the announcement is more of a “political statement” than anything else.
Stay tuned to CarShowroom as we bring you more updates as they come.
