The U.K. recently
announced the sale
of new hybrid cars
will be banned
from 2035,
along with all
new gasoline
and diesel cars.
This announcement
came as a shock
to customers and
the auto industry.
Boris Johnson’s
government
is pushing for
net zero
CO2 emissions,
as agreed by
Theresa May
last year.
The new decision
to ban “offending”
vehicles by 2035,
revises the target
closer, from 2040.
The government
repeatedly picks
automobile
winners
and losers,
in the name of
environmentalism,
and then
changes
their mind.
The government
previously had been
telling motorists,
for a long time,
that gas / electric
hybrids were better
for the environment.
Affluent
consumers
rushed out
to buy
hybrids,
after the
government
backed them
as a solution
to the
climate crisis,
and the UK’s
worsening
air quality,
especially
in London,
London authorities
made hybrid cars
exempt from
congestion zones
and the latest
Ultra Low
Emission
Zones.
But if sales
of automobiles
that used gasoline
or diesel fuel,
which includes
hybrids, much of
the infrastructure
for them will
eventually
disappear.
The last Labour
government
incentivized
the purchase
of fuel efficient
diesel vehicles
in 2001.
Increased sales
of diesel cars
led to a decrease
in air quality !
There are now
serious questions
about the costs,
and time needed,
for building the
new infrastructure
required for
electric vehicles,
such as
the need for
many more
electricity
power plants,
and roadside
vehicle charging
stations.