Government sets 2030/5 phase-out for ICE cars and vans in Ten Point Plan for environment

Fri 20 November 2020 View all news

The Government has announced that the UK will end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030, ten years earlier than originally planned. However, sales of hybrid cars and vans that can drive a "significant distance with no carbon coming out of the tailpipe" will be allowed until 2035. The announcement was part of a 'Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution' which also includes proposals for low carbon hydrogen, low emission freight, sustainable aviation, green ships, public transport and active travel, all backed up by green finance and innovation.

Making the announcement, the Prime Minister said that the plan will create and support up to 250,000 jobs in Britain by 2030.

The £12bn plan (of which £4bn is reported to be new investment) covers clean energy, transport, nature and innovative technologies. It aims to show how the UK is taking the initiative in the run up to the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in November 2021.

To support plans in the road transport sector, the plan announced:

  • £1.3 billion to accelerate the rollout of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in homes, streets and on motorways across England, so people can more easily and conveniently charge their cars.
  • £582 million in grants for those buying zero or ultra-low emission vehicles to make them cheaper to buy and incentivise more people to make the transition.
  • Nearly £500 million to be spent in the next four years for the development and mass-scale production of electric vehicle batteries, as part of the Government's commitment to provide up to £1 billion,

The Government also stated that it will launch a consultation next year on the phase out of new diesel HGVs, alongside an initial £20m investment in 2021 to support innovation in zero emission trucks.

The Ten Points of the plan are:

  1. Offshore wind: Producing enough offshore wind to power every home, quadrupling how much we can produce to 40GW (capacity) by 2030.
  2. Hydrogen: Working with industry aiming to generate 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030 for industry, transport, power and homes, and aiming to develop the first town heated entirely by hydrogen by the end of the decade.
  3. Nuclear: Advancing nuclear as a clean energy source, across large scale nuclear and developing the next generation of small and advanced reactors. This could potentially unlock efficient production of hydrogen and synthetic fuels.
  4. Electric vehicles: Backing car manufacturing bases including in the West Midlands, the North East and North Wales to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles, and transforming our national infrastructure to better support electric vehicles.
  5. Green Public transport, cycling and walking: Making cycling and walking more attractive ways to travel and investing in zero emission public transport of the future, including a commitment to more than 4000 zero emission buses and two all electric bus towns..
  6. Jet Zero and greener maritime: Supporting difficult-to-decarbonise industries to become greener through research projects for zero-emission planes and ships and the fuel to power them.
  7. Homes and public buildings: Making homes, schools and hospitals greener, warmer and more energy efficient; including a target to install 600,000 heat pumps every year by 2028.
  8. Carbon capture: Becoming a world-leader in technology to capture and store harmful emissions away from the atmosphere, with a target to remove 10MT of carbon dioxide by 2030, equivalent to all emissions of the industrial Humber today. (or about 9% of todays surface transport GHG)
  9. Nature: Protecting and restoring the natural environment, planting 30,000 hectares of trees every year by 2025, whilst creating and retaining thousands of jobs.
  10. Green Finance and Innovation: Developing the cutting-edge technologies needed to reach these new energy ambitions and make the City of London the global centre of green finance.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "Although this year has taken a very different path to the one we expected, I haven’t lost sight of our ambitious plans to level up across the country. My Ten Point Plan will create, support and protect hundreds of thousands of green jobs, whilst making strides towards net zero by 2050."

Responding to the announcement, LowCVP's Managing Director Andy Eastlake said: “This signal commitment to 2030 is a key staging post in the transition to a zero-emission road transport system. 

“However, it focuses on cars and vans. There’s much to be done to actually make this happen as well as to tackle emissions from the important freight sector, so we welcome the start of those discussions and the commitment to zero emission buses.

“We need to ensure not only that we electrify lighter and city centre vehicles as fast as possible but that the fuels used in larger vehicles and in the legacy car and van fleet are as low carbon as possible and we begin to focus on the resources used in vehicle production and infrastructure to develop truly sustainable transport system.  It is also vital that all the leading work within automotive, transcends the sectors to make the maximum impact on GHG as quickly as possible.” 

TO SEE LOWCVP'S FULL RESPONSE TO THE TEN POINT PLAN 2030 ANNOUNCEMENT CLICK HERE

Find our more about LowCVP's plans to maximise PHEV 'electric miles' click here

Related LowCVP News: Ahead of the Government's announcement, LowCVP held dedicated strategic meetings to discuss the key obstacles and opportunities associated with an early ICE phase-out date.

The aim was to take a systems approach, identifying potential barriers to achieving an earlier phase out.

LowCVP's Passenger Car Working Group will be using the outputs of these discussions to establish both the role of the Group in delivering the proposed phase out and to determine the future work programme in this area, including examining how this ties in with the wider Transport Decarbonisation Plan.

Initially, three areas of common interest that were identified in the discussion will form the focus:

  • Charging Infrastructure: from the generation and distribution of low carbon electricity to the vehicles and the infrastructure that will be required to do this, as well as concerns about the costs to install and questions of who should pay for it.
  • Supply of Products: from the availability of raw materials, the manufacturing and production volumes that will be required and the whole lifecycle impacts of doing so in a shorter time-frame.
  • User demand (consumer & fleet): the need for clear, consistent messaging and advice to drive consumer confidence and stimulate the market, along with (financial) incentives to make the switch to zero tailpipe emission vehicles.

Members (or non-members wishing to join the Partnership) who are interested in participating in this project should email the LowCVP Secretariat. 

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