A number of countries around the world have announced decisions to ban all new diesel / petrol (gas) power vehicles from their roads by a specified date (around 2030/2040).
We’d like to clarify what this means, at least as far as the announcements to date indicate.
• At the time of writing, Australia hasn’t made any such declaration;
• The statements have been made by a few countries, most notably Britain and France;
• The announcements relate ONLY to new cars from that date onwards.
• Some confused reporting has almost suggested images of giant snowploughs driving all petrol and diesel engine vehicles physically off the road on 1st January 2030. This is NOT going to happen – this only applies to NEW vehicles from that time onwards.
• There remain some serious issues to be solved in the light of these decisions.
At the moment, it is far from clear if electric vehicle production will be able to take up the slack from 2030 (France) or 2040 (UK) onwards. It might still sound a science-fiction date but 2030 is only just over 12 years away and electric cars still suffer from technical limitations and a limited support infrastructure.
Can it be achieved?
Yes, we think it can. It should be remembered that the USA was still struggling to put men into basic Earth orbit when President Kennedy made his famous “Moon Speech” in 1962 – a speech which left many scientists struck dumb and thinking of it as “totally impossible”. Yet only 7 years later, NASA and the US had achieved it.
So, the problems with electric cars seem small in comparison.
Even so, the challenges shouldn’t be underestimated. Only time will tell.
We have previously blogged of our interest in alternative vehicle power sources and our belief that there is still some considerable way to go before a limo bus, Sydney or elsewhere, is going to be electrically powered.
Still, we’ll be watching developments with interest.
