BBC Top Story. Diesel & Petrol cars banned from 2040

forgotmyname

Sensational headline...
BBC. Top Story... Diesel and Petrol cars banned from 2040

I wonder how much of this is true?

More charges if polluting vehicles enter certain zones, How does that clean the air?

The government must bring down the levels of pollution. Maybe they need to make the road designers actually drive the route they are reorganising?

Roundabout near me had its markings changed 3 times and then ended up back to its original layout.

Another road brought to chaos is where they added traffic lights on a roundabout and some halfwit decided that one exit which had 3 lanes which then went into 2 and back to 3.. Now its 1 lane that opens to 3 lanes. No reason that 2 lanes could not be used and the traffic would flot a lot better. It now causes traffic to build up another 200 yards up the road and cars now block another two junctions.

thescouselander

Sounds like another government cockup on the making. It's not going to be possible to go electric without serious investment in the national grid and power generating infrastructure. No announcement on that though.

Strider590

Complete BS, just the British Brainwashing Corporation paying their dues to the authorities and golfing buddies in big business.

I'm not really sure what the long term plan is.......
On the surface it makes no sense pushing people toward electric vehicles, because VAT on petrol/diesel is a HUGE income for the treasury.
Perhaps when a ban does not happen, people will feel so grateful that they won't question paying a massive premium or tax or charges or something. Similar to what the energy companies do, telling us it's our own fault our bills are so high......

This sort of thing gets people stirred up, pushes people into buying that new car they were half considering, it'll also screw up the used market for a short while, which will in turn encourage people to buy used cars and used car sales drive new car sales.

Long term, don't think it'll happen, short term some people are going to make a lot of money off the back of that "story".

worried_jim

It's happening-
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jul/25/britain-to-ban-sale-of-all-diesel-and-petrol-cars-and-vans-from-2040

Volvo will have done it in a few years, and now the UK is following France's lead. Brave new world for the next generation. 23 years is enough time to make the change.

Norman_Castle

Its a good incentive for car makers to develop alternative fuel cars.

andygb

Will they ban diesel lorries, ships and public transport vehicles as well?
If not, then it is a pointless exercise.

Aylesbury_Duck

andygb wrote: »

Will they ban diesel lorries, ships and public transport vehicles as well?
If not, then it is a pointless exercise.

Don't be daft. One of the main reasons we have a runaway environmental problem and terrible air quality is that society has sat on its hands awaiting the perfect solution. There isn't one. That isn't a good reason to not take steps to improve the situation. If measures like this aren't taken, then by 2040 it's likely that city living will be almost impractical for anyone with respiratory problems, with many more effects emerging too.

Where's the logic in not trying the reduce the use of diesel until there is a way of eliminating its use entirely, in one go?

rob7475

Are we going to build new power stations to cope with all the extra electricity demands?

Batteries only have a limited lifespan at the minute before they can no longer be charged. Is there an environmentally friendly way of disposing of millions of old batteries?

I think there's a lot of obstacles to overcome before we can commit to completely banning diesel and petrol. We need a sustainable way of creating enough electric to cover the extra demand. I can't see that happening in the next 20 years really.

Aylesbury_Duck

rob7475 wrote: »

Are we going to build new power stations to cope with all the extra electricity demands?

Batteries only have a limited lifespan at the minute before they can no longer be charged. Is there an environmentally friendly way of disposing of millions of old batteries?

I think there's a lot of obstacles to overcome before we can commit to completely banning diesel and petrol. We need a sustainable way of creating enough electric to cover the extra demand. I can't see that happening in the next 20 years really.

The UK is woefully behind where it needs to be with new power stations and you're right - we need more and they need to be being built now. Sadly, they're not and the consequence of that is that we will become more reliant on imported power. Not a good position to be in.

I am disappointed that we haven't seen the leaps in battery technology that we need to make them a viable replacement for petrol and diesel. They have come a long way in recent years but until we crack the mass/range/power ratios, they're not ready for the widespread use we need. I share your view that this is unlikely in the next 20 years.

However, where I think things can improve is in the big towns and cities where battery vehicles can be viable and where autonomous hybrid vehicles will reduce emissions through much better use of road capacity. When vehicles can work in trains, many more passenger and goods miles can be travelled over the same road capacity over the same time. with fewer delays, less starting and stopping and less idling. That will go a long way to improving economy and air quality.

I don't know if the headline today is feasible. I suspect not, but I cannot see the sense in some people's arguments which seem to be that unless there's a perfect solution, it's a pointless exercise. Global warming and deteriorating air quality are not binary, they are variable.

Le_Kirk

It was in the Daily Mail as well, so it must be true!

System

rob7475 wrote: »

Batteries only have a limited lifespan at the minute before they can no longer be charged. Is there an environmentally friendly way of disposing of millions of old batteries?

.

Modern EV batteries have more than just a limited lifespan. My EV battery is has an eight year warranty. A recent test on an EV similar to mine showed that after 70,000 miles and daily re-charging, the battery could still be charged to 98% of its original charging capacity. FWiW, BMW is already using batteries removed from EVs for home and business energy storage.

http://fortune.com/2016/06/22/bmw-energy-storage/