Earlier this month France’s government announced that sales of petrol and diesel vehicles will be scrapped completely by 2040, this was deemed an ambitious plan, put forward to meet the Paris climate accord targets. The announcement came one day after Volvo announced its move to produce only electric or hybrid cars from 2019 onwards marking the beginning of the end of the automotive industry as we have known it for more than a century. Not one to be left out, just before the month is over the UK have announced to follow suit and have committed to banning the sale of all new diesel and petrol cars by 2040 to encourage the switch to the more economically friendly vehicles – electric and hybrid. This comes under new Government plans brought about under instruction of the High court which will see drivers of diesel cars face new pollution taxes on certain roads in towns and cities which are in breach of EU emissions standards.
A total of 81 major roads in 17 towns and cities were identified as areas where urgent action is required due to this breach of emissions standards. There are many groups in opposition to these drastic plans including motoring groups who have long since demanded that there should be a diesel scrappage scheme where drivers would receive compensation for trading in their vehicles. This diesel scrappage system is a suggestion backed by many as the move away from diesel vehicles has come just over a decade after motorists were encouraged to purchase them amid fears of carbon emissions at the time. The number of diesel vehicles on Britain’s roads has risen from 3.2million in 2000 to more than 10 million today, this rise was a direct result to the fuel duty slash on diesel cars in an attempt to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, since then more research discovered that diesel vehicles emit nitrogen dioxide which is just as dangerous and increases the risk of strokes, heart attacks and asthma attacks.
The specifics and guidelines have not yet been outlined completely so it could be too early to speculate however how are car owners supposed to feel confident purchasing a hybrid or electric vehicle now without the fear that in ten years there won’t be another discovery into those being harmful to our environment or health also? The government are wary of punishing drivers who purchased the vehicles in good faith of lower carbon emissions and are expected instead to put more focus on retrofitting buses and other modes of public transport to make them cleaner, changing road layouts and features such as speed humps to prevent cards repeatedly slowing down and speeding up, which almost doubles the amount of harmful gasses produced, and introducing better sequencing of traffic lights to ensure that drivers will continue to arrive green lights rather than red ones if they drive within the speed limit.
So what does this mean for car drivers, diesel companies and the car market? We don’t know for sure, as environmental pressure groups have pushed for more immediate action, so it is likely that if the plans produced and announced tomorrow, Wednesday 26th July 2017, which come just days before the court mandated deadline, work towards the problem with 2040 as the deadline there will be increased pressure to shorten the timescale to show significant improvement and changes before then. What we do know is that this means a huge change for the automotive market in general and the move towards hybrid and electric vehicles has certainly begun.