UK To Ban Sale Of Diesel & Gas/Petrol Cars By 2040

The UK government is planning to begin banning the sale of all diesel- and petrol/gas-powered cars from 2040 onwards, according to a recent announcement. The move means that consumers wishing to buy a personal car after that date will be required to buy an all-electric model.

The decision is intended as a means of helping to address the growing air pollution problems in many of the urban parts of the UK; alongside ongoing efforts to impose low- and zero-emissions zones in some cities.

This new follows on a recent similar announcement by the French government — that an outright ban of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles (diesel, petrol/gas, etc) will eventually go into effect.

Reuters provides more: “No one was immediately available for comment at Britain’s environment ministry which was due to make the announcement, according to the newspaper reports. The Times said the sale of new hybrid vehicles that have an electric motor combined with a petrol or diesel engine would also end under the plan.

“Under the proposals due to be announced on Wednesday, local authorities would be able to charge levies on the drivers of the diesel vehicles on the most polluted roads from 2020, if air quality does not improve, the Daily Mail newspaper said.”

The announcement was met with some reservations by the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, who states that there would need to be more aggressive actions taken if air pollution was to be curtailed to any real degree.

Khan stated: “We need a fully-funded diesel scrappage fund now to get polluting vehicles off our streets immediately, as well as new powers so that cities across the UK can take the action needed to clean up our air.”

On that note, as a reminder here, electric cars account for less than 5% of new car registrations in the UK. So there’s clearly quite a lot of work to done.

Image by aurélien

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