Quote:
Originally Posted by Onramp
Petrol / Diesel ban - How do they know that they will be in power in 2040 in order to decide this? Or has it already been decided by someone with more authority than whoever might be in power?
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It won't be legislated for in 2040. The laws will be passed now, or at some point in the near future, and they will rest on the statute book until then. A future government that did not want to meet the target would have to ask Parliament to repeal the law. While that is entirely possible to do, it is very unlikely that another party would want to make itself look so environmentally irresponsible.
There will be no need anyway. France also plans to phase out fossil fuel cars by 2040 and Norway's going to do it by 2025. Other countries will follow.
Electric cars are about to go mainstream. VW is now promising an electric golf by 2020 with a range of up to 375 miles, priced so as to be within the "family car" price bracket. Once there is a decent choice of electric family cars with useful range, the rest will follow quite quickly.
There won't be a massive, sudden scrappage scheme on 31 December 2039. By then, almost all fossil fuel cars will have been off the road for years. 2040 is the end point of a process that has already started.