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Britain to ban sale of gasoline cars By Nicole Wakelin | Ride.tech
Britain is planning to ban the sale of new gas, diesel and hybrid cars beginning in 2035, according to Reuters. This ban comes five years ahead of when it was originally scheduled to start. This ban on gas, diesel, and hybrid cars is a part of achieving its net zero emissions goal by 2050. Brexit could make reaching those goals more challenging. At the launch event for the COP26 (United Nations Climate Change Conference), held at London’s Science Museum, Prime Minister Boris Johnson commented on the challenge of dealing with CO2 emissions. He said it’s a problem that needs to be dealt with not just as a country, but as a planet, and that action needs to be taken now. Britain has pledged to reach net zero heating emissions by 2050 and was the first G7 country to announce such a goal. According to Reuters,
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Johnson used the launch event for COP26 to encourage other countries to develop targets for becoming carbon-neutral and create actionable plans for reaching those targets. The British government’s decision to end the sale of all gas, diesel, and hybrid cars and vans in 2035 is part of its plan to reach net zero. The date, however, is dependent on consultation. This leaves open the possibility of moving the date further out if it’s too aggressive or bringing it in closer if possible. Governments are reacting to the problem of vehicle emissions with a variety of bans, but the ban in
DRIVE A2B magazine · March 2020
the United Kingdom is more allencompassing than most. Diesel vehicles have been a prime target since the Volkswagen emissions scandal with the mayors of Paris, Madrid, Mexico City and Athens all planning to ban diesel vehicles from their city centers by 2025. France is taking an approach more in line with the UK. It is banning all fossil fuel-powered cars by 2040. That’s five extra years for France to plan and build the charging infrastructure necessary to support a nation’s worth of electric vehicles.
