Michael Gove prepares to follow lead set by France two weeks ago
by: Jim Pickard and Peter Campbell
Michael Gove will herald the end of the internal combustion engine in Britain within a generation as he announces plans to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2040.
The move by the environment secretary, which follows the lead set by France two weeks ago, will be set out in the UK government’s long-awaited “air quality plan” on Wednesday.
Mr Gove will say that all newly bought cars will have to be fully electric within a quarter of a century. His promise to ban other cars — including hybrid vehicles — shifts the government further from its existing position, which was an “ambition” for all new cars to be zero-emission by 2040.
The coalition government’s “carbon plan” in 2011 also predicted that all new cars sold beyond that year would have to produce no emissions in order to meet a target of having no petrol or diesel cars on the roads by 2050.
But Mr Gove’s announcement will be seen as a milestone in the shift towards electric cars, which currently account for less than 1 per cent sold in Britain. It is part of a wider package of measures designed to help bring pollution levels back within legal limits in towns and cities including London and Glasgow.
These could include retrofitting buses or changing road layouts to improve air quality on 81 of the most polluted roads in Britain. Should this fail to bring down nitrogen dioxide levels, ministers will let local authorities introduce charges, or ban the dirtiest cars, at certain times of day.
The air quality plan also includes incentives for green taxis and for better cycling and walking facilities. There will also be a consultation on a scrappage scheme for old diesel vehicles.
The overall package has been earmarked as costing £3bn, but 90 per cent of this has already been announced.
It came as BMW announced that its new electric Mini would be assembled in Britain at its factory in Cowley, near Oxford, from 2019.
“Poor air quality is the biggest environmental risk to public health in the UK and this government is determined to take strong action in the shortest time possible,” said Defra, the environment department.
Ministers were forced to republish their air pollution plans before the end of this month after two legal actions by ClientEarth, the green campaigners. The High Court ruled that a previous version failed to comply with an EU directive to cut emissions in the “shortest possible time”.
Anna Heslop, a lawyer for ClientEarth, told BBC Radio that the plan was an “eye-catching announcement” but “in terms of whether it’s going to fix the immediate air-quality problem, we’re not convinced that that’s the answer”. Ms Heslop said the government’s own evidence showed that the most effective solution would be to set up a network of clean-air zones where cars were discouraged from entering towns and cities.
Ed Miliband, former Labour leader and a one-time environment secretary, echoed similar fears. “Fear that new car petrol/diesel ban in 23 years’ time is smokescreen for weak measures to tackle 40,000 deaths a year from air pollution now,” he wrote on Twitter.
Greenpeace said the government was right to put an expiry date on petrol and diesel cars. “But 2040 is far too late,” said the environmental group’s clean air campaigner, Areeba Hamid. “We cannot wait nearly a quarter of a century for real action to tackle the public health emergency caused by air pollution.
“While this plan makes the right headline-grabbing noises, in reality it means that children across the UK will continue to be exposed to harmful air pollution for years to come.”
London has already drawn up a new “T-charge” in which 10,000 of the oldest, dirtiest cars will have to pay a £10 daily levy to use the roads. However, Mr Gove is not expected to suggest that other parts of the country follow the capital’s lead. Demand for alternatively fuelled vehicles is growing but still at a very low level as consumers have concern over affordability, range and charging points Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders
A figure close to Sadiq Khan, London’s mayor, said the government needed to announce a “fully funded” diesel scrappage fund rather than just a consultation.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s pledge earlier this month to ban the sale of diesel and petrol cars in France by 2040 was a key moment in the decline of the internal combustion engine.
Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said that an outright ban in the UK could undermine the automotive sector, which supported more than 800,000 jobs across the country, unless there were new incentives for consumers to buy electric cars.
“Demand for alternatively fuelled vehicles is growing but still at a very low level as consumers have concern over affordability, range and charging points,” he said.
Analysts expect sales of electric vehicles to take off significantly once they reach cost parity with internal combustion engines and UBS has said it expected one in three cars in Europe to be electric by 2025.
Carmakers are already developing electric vehicles in order to meet strict European emissions rules that come into force in 2021.
Volvo Cars has announced that every new car will be hybrid or fully electric by 2019, and many carmakers, from Volkswagen to Aston Martin, have said they expect a quarter of their sales to be electric by 2025.
Erik Fairbairn, founder and chief executive of electric car charging company PodPoint, said the government was “verbalising the path that we’re already on” towards mass adoption of electric vehicles.
“We forecast that 90 per cent of cars will be fully electric around 2030 anyway.”
He estimated that 45m national charging points would be required by 2040, of which the vast majority would be charging points in homes.