Government recommits to 2030 petrol and diesel ban

15th Oct, 2024

If you’ve been driving for more than a few years – or even if you’ve simply been following the major motoring headlines in that time – you’ll probably have heard of the proposed ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles. It’s the most ambitious plan in decades to change the face of British motoring, and it’s one that’s had a bit of a bumpy ride so far already.

The first iteration made headlines all the way back in 2017, when the proposed deadline was 2040. Since then, the climate crisis has accelerated, and there’s been a lot of back-and-forth on that deadline – not helped by the fact that it’s been a bit of a turbulent time in British politics, so different prime ministers have set different dates. The most ambitious so far has been 2030, which climate campaigners argued should be a bare minimum. It was later pushed back by the then-Conservative government.

With Labour’s election victory in July of this year though, the party has now officially recommitted to the 2030 date. So if you’re one of the many, many people not driving an electric car, or EV, you might be asking – should I scrap my car? Well, not quite yet. Here’s what’s going on.

Labour now officially recommits to the 2030 date

There was a lot of talk before the election about Labour’s intention to recommit to the 2030 deadline, but to be honest there wasn’t a whole lot of mystery surrounding it – largely because it was explicitly mentioned in the party’s manifesto. A spokesman for the Department of Transport later reconfirmed the move in an official comment to Fleet World, reiterating the party’s “commitment to delivering greener transport by supporting the transition to electric vehicles”.

It’s not a blanket deadline on all vehicles, so it doesn’t apply to HGVs, for example. There was still some notable ambiguity though – for example, there were calls on the government to confirm whether or not the ban applied to vans. (It doesn’t appear so.)

Now, speaking of clarifications, we should get this one out of the way quickly: the deadline is just for the sale of new petrol and diesel cars. In other words, it’s largely a focus for automotive manufacturers and retailers. It doesn’t mean that your petrol or diesel car becomes illegal to drive the moment the deadline passes – combustion engines are still likely to be on our roads for quite a while yet.

Even so, the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars is still an ambitious goal. However, government sources insist they’ve got the drive (pardon the pun) to get it done. According to the aforementioned industry spokesman: “The calculation that was done for us as a party demonstrated that delaying five years would cost drivers tens of billions of pounds in higher fuel costs. That was why we made that decision.”

Quick timeline of the petrol and diesel ban

• July 2017 – Conservative Environment Secretary Michael Gove announces the first iteration of the proposed ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles, with an initial deadline of 2040
• February 2020 – at the Cop26 Climate Conference in Glasgow, then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson commits the UK to a more ambitious 2035 deadline.
• November 2020 – Johnson revises his deadline further, now committing to a date of 2030.
• September 2023 – Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pushes back the end date for sales of new fossil fuel cars and vans to 2035 again. (This is widely seen as watering down of efforts to tackle the climate crisis.)
• January 2024 – The Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) mandate is launched, which reinforces EV sales quotas on manufacturers.
• July 2024 – Keir Starmer’s Labour Party win the UK General Election, and officially recommit to restoring the 2030 date for the ban on petrol and diesel car sales (but not vans).

So what’s Labour’s plan now?

A key crux of the Labour strategy for actually achieving the target is to focus on expanding the number of viable charge points across the UK. It’s an issue which has been well-documented in terms of the obstacle it poses to the large-scale rollout of electric vehicles.

It’s still an ambitious target, but campaigners say it’s necessary to get us to where we need to be in terms of our climate goals. Notably, it does look like Labour is trying to moderate itself already – the original language of the ban suggested that hybrids would be covered, but now the word is that hybrid cars will be excepted until 2035, and that the sale ban will only apply to vehicles with pure internal combustion engines.

To summarise a complex and varied reaction, the response has been… mixed. Lots of green campaigners have welcomed the recommitment, especially since many of them see it as more or less non-negotiable. A report earlier this summer by the Climate Change Committee said the UK must reinstate the 2030 phase-out of new fossil-fuel car and van sales to reach a critical net zero goal.

However, there are also widespread concerns that it’s an unrealistic goal, especially from figures within the automotive and transport industry. One thing is for certain – if the government wants to achieve that target, ministers will need to back it up with useful policies to make sure it’s not just an empty target.

Don’t worry too much on a personal level though – as we touched on above, you’re likely to have your petrol and diesel car for quite some time yet. Unless of course you were planning to scrap yours – in which case, you’re in exactly the right place. With more than 40 years of experience behind us here at Scrap Car Network, we’re committed to making sure we always get you the very best price. All you need to do is enter your car reg and postcode into the fields on our site, and we’ll get you an instant online quote before you can say cash for cars. It only takes a few seconds. Curious to find out how much your car is worth?