News & Features
Inquiry into the Decarbonisation of Britain's Roads
Posted in General News on Wednesday, August 16th, 2023
The government has launched a new inquiry to further investigate the decorbonisation of Britain’s roads in order to reach the net zero emissions target. A major part of the study will investigate the costs and benefits, associated with the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans in the UK, and how it should impact the progress towards the 2050 net zero target, as well as many other environmental impacts that motoring has on the nation. Another crucial part of the analysis will look at the success of the government’s approach to achieving the 2030 and 2035 phase-out dates, as well as the uptake in EVs.
National and regional EV charging infrastructure will be reported on by the committee and will include details on charging issues for drivers. Baroness Kate Parminter, Chair of the Environment and Climate Change Committee said “The rubber is now hitting the road - as we can’t get to net zero without individuals making changes to our lives, how we travel and what we buy. Using EVs for passenger transport will be a part of that and the Government has committed to ending the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030."
Comments (1)Leave a reply
* indicates a required field
Comments
Ian Fraser Hillman
Friday, August, 18th, 2023
This policy really does need further analysis. The environmental and economic costs of banning the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 and introducing EV replacement vehicles together with the infrastructure to support them by (say) 2040 needs to be fully investigated to ensure that there is not a net negative environmental (let alone economic) cost. In particular I do not think that we should rush headlong into a situation where battery technology remains under development and the lifespan/future disposal of redundant batteries is unknown. I'm all for EV's but I cannot see any logic in abandoning and effectively banning existing proven ( relatively "clean" ) technology in favour of an unproven, uncertain technology still at a fairly early stage of development and refinement.