Saturday, 5 May 2018
New sales of petrol and diesel cars, as well as conventional hybrids such as the Toyota Prius, will be banned from 2040 after more details were revealed about the Government’s petrol and diesel car ‘ban’.
Dubbed Road to Zero, the forthcoming rules will prohibit the sale of new cars from 2040 that are incapable of travelling for 50 miles or more on battery power alone.
While current plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) such as the Audi A3 e-tron can can only travel around 30 miles on a single charge, it is likely PHEV standards will have improved enough to meet the 50-mile target by 2040.
Alternatively-fuelled vehicles, or AFVs – essentially hybrids, electric vehicles (EVs) and hydrogen cars – currently only make up 5.6 per cent of new car sales, but numbers are rising rapidly. Last month they increased in popularity by almost 50 precent.
Government officials have yet to confirm the new 50-mile rule, but the Financial Times reports that “three people involved in the decision” have confirmed this detail. The Government’s Transport, Environment and Business departments are all said to be involved in developing the 2040 policy.
A spokesperson for the Department for Transport said: “It is categorically untrue that Government is planning to ban the sale of hybrid cars in the UK by 2040. We do not comment on leaked draft documents. The Road to Zero Strategy is yet to be finalised and has not been agreed by Ministers.”
