Ban on new petrol and diesel car sales in the UK delayed until 2035

I’m furious about this, which may surprise a few, given that I am a petrolhead. Today the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak resets the UKs net zero policy with ‘new pragmatic approach’ that allows the sale of petrol and diesel cars for another 5 years.

The PM stated that he remains committed to all the UK’s net zero targets, but says he believes the UK will meet them without the imposition of onerous targets and unnecessary additional costs on consumers. The new 2035 date for the petrol and diesel new car sales ban aligns with bans in other major global markets in Europe and the EU. Now I get that, it makes sense to be aligned with other countries globally. However, my frustration is not necessarily with this policy/ date u-turn, its more the lack of ambition and joined up thinking, and many companies and consumers have made considerable efforts to reduce their carbon footprint already. With the major decisions affecting the UK, all political parties should have agreement, especially on the environment, power, water, pollution, utilities, etc. My political rant over.

The policy rollback is a bitter pill for the UK motor industry, which has been working towards the ICE ban and the threat of a zero emissions mandate, which would create financial penalties for car makers failing to meet government sales targets for zero-emission vehicles. On Tuesday at the Electrified conference held by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) in London, the organisation’s chief executive and other industry leaders expressed support for the 2030 ban, and called for more detail on the mandate which is still currently slated to be enforced from January next year.

Net zero is the target for the UK to be neutral in terms of the harmful greenhouse gas emissions it adds to the atmosphere – effectively taking out as many emissions of gasses like CO2 as it put in. The ban on the sale of new ICE cars is a central pillar of this along with measures to phase out gas boilers in homes, but the gas boiler plans have been rolled back too. While there’s a pledge of new incentives to support domestic boiler upgrades, there’s no mention of any incentives to support EV sales.

While uptake of new electric cars has been strong among fleet users, EV purchases by private drivers are flat-lining. Doubts remain concerning their affordability and the charging infrastructure needed to support them as mass adoption gathers pace. The UK is the only major European market that is currently offering no government incentives to support EV sales, which nevertheless accounted for just over 20 percent of the car market in August 2023.

The change to the pace of the government’s strategy on the internal combustion ban is highly controversial, even within the Tory party where many high profile MPs support swift action on climate.

Ford UK Chair, Lisa Brankin, released a statement echoing the concerns of the car industry regarding the move. It says that that: “Ford has announced a global $50 billion commitment to electrification, launching nine electric vehicles by 2025. The range is supported by £430 million invested in Ford’s UK development and manufacturing facilities, with further funding planned for the 2030 timeframe.

“Our business needs three things from the UK government: ambition, commitment and consistency.  A relaxation of 2030 would undermine all three.  We need the policy focus trained on bolstering the EV market in the short term and supporting consumers while headwinds are strong: infrastructure remains immature, tariffs loom and cost-of-living is high.”