Plans To Electrify All Vehicles By 2030 Falls Through

1st Jun 2021

Challenges of 2021 | Impact on The UK Car Market

Plans to Electrify All Vehicles By 2030 Stagnates

The UK decided to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030.

The UK government first chose to phase out petrol and diesel cars by 2040, but last year, they moved that target to 2035 in February, and to 2030 in November.

The efforts to ban conventional cars relate to reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. On the bright side, the UK has witnessed a steep rise in electric vehicle sales in recent times.

The plans set out for 2030 are less rigorous than those for 2035 because they exclude the ban on hybrid cars. The new deadline supports the UK’s economic recovery from the aftermath of the pandemic, as a recent study by Greenpeace shows the 2030 embargo would generate more than 32,000 jobs.

Furthermore, the 2030 sanction shows a serious commitment from the officials to improve the climate.

Transport Decarbonization Director Graeme Cooper stated, "This will give drivers consistency, continuity and therefore confidence that their first or only car can be electric." “But the transition isn’t just about cars – we also need to see a broader strategy that covers rail, road, maritime, and aviation, changing the way people and goods are moved.”

That said, Public Accounts Committee (PAC) reports that conventional car registration is still on the rise, and liberating the country of these vehicles completely would be a challenge.

In 2020, registrations for ultra-low emission vehicles were only 11 per cent. To push this figure up to 100 per cent by 2030 is a massive challenge, PAC warned.

PAC said that high electric car prices are an obstacle to achieve that goal. To make the ban successful, the government must persuade people about the affordability of EVs, which actually come with a higher upfront cost than internal combustion engine vehicles.

PAC called the Transport and Business departments to play their role by providing additional tax rewards to bring the price down quickly.

Moreover, PAC claimed that the government is not on track with charging points’ development. While the charging points are steeply increasing, the ban requires the authorities to act faster to cater to imagined EV growth. To phase out petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030 successfully, the charging point installation rate must be five times higher.

The availability of resources to complement the petrol car ban is also a challenge. The government must proactively ensure the availability of skilled labor to uphold the switch in Britain’s vehicle fleet. The drastic change would influence the future power needs, and there would be environmental and social implications, as well. The lack of demand for fuel means a fall in government revenue resulting from fuel duties.

Chair of the Committee, Meg Hillier said: “The government has a mountain to climb to get to all new cars in the UK emitting zero carbon in the next 14 years; to convince consumers and make the cars appealing; to make the car industry environmentally and socially compliant; to build the necessary infrastructure to support this radical shift, and - possibly biggest of all - to wean itself off carbon revenues.”

“This isn’t about more targets with no plan behind them inevitably getting missed. It’s about averting the real-world challenges that are bearing down on all of us. The government needs to get the country behind it and lead the way in the global race against climate change.”

However, the UK government believes they’re on the right track and are all set for the 2030 ban. In response to the identification of challenges to the plan, a government spokesperson said: “We’ve got a highly ambitious and world-leading approach to increasing the uptake of zero-emission cars, and the progress we’re making in this area will help us to meet our targets.”

“Already, we’re investing £2.8bn in helping industry and drivers make the switch and will continue our work to install thousands of charge points and boost the development of new technologies to meet our goals.”