The government of Scotland is currently planning to phase out the sale of new petrol/gasoline and diesel cars by the year 2032 — a full 8 years earlier than the current plans from the UK government. This plan was recently revealed by Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon.
Several countries have now announced or considered plans to ban gas- and diesel-powered cars by a certain year. These eventual bans are certainly welcome and helpful from a messaging and persuasion standpoint, but if you look at the expected exponential growth curve of electric car adoption, banning polluting cars in 2040 or 2050 doesn’t actually look like a very bold move. More or less, it looks like that will happen anyway from simple market forces.
The most recent cover story in The Economist announces, “The death of the internal combustion engine… it had a good run. But the end is in sight.” In a remarkable account, The Economist reports that the internal combustion engine’s “days are numbered. Rapid gains in battery technology favour electric motors instead. … Today’s electric cars, powered by lithium-ion batteries, can do much better.”
“We are announcing an end to the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2040,” Nicolas Hulot, France’s new ecology minister, said last month, adding that the move was a “veritable revolution.” It looks like England may follow suit. Jesse Norman, from England’s Department for Transport has announced, “a manifesto commitment for almost all cars and vans on our roads to be zero emission by 2050. We believe this would necessitate all new cars and vans being zero emission vehicles by 2040.” How many countries are actually moving in the direction of eventual gas and diesel car bans?
Nicholas Hulot, the new environmental minister for France, has announced a 5-year plan that will lead to that country becoming carbon neutral by 2050. The plan is part of France’s commitment to the Paris climate accords. One feature of the proposal would prohibit the sale of all cars with internal combustion engines by the year 2040.
Edit: From some Norwegians, we hear that the reports from the newspaper Elon tweeted have the story wrong. The story, according to other sources, is that Norway will just implement a goal of 100% electric cars by 2025, not a ban on sales of new gas cars. But it’s hard … [continued]
Originally published on EV Obsession. In another sign of the accelerating transition toward electric vehicles in the automotive sector, a group of politicians in the Netherlands recently put forward a proposal to outright ban all new gasoline and diesel powered models starting in 2025. In addition to the ban of … [continued]
