Certain internal combustion engined cars will now be available to buy in the European Union after 2035, after a plan to ban them in favour of electric cars met with resistance from several countries within the bloc – but they still won’t be sold here in the UK.
An alliance of countries led by Germany, but also including Italy, Poland, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic, wanted cars that ran on synthetic fuels, or e-fuels, to be exempted from a de facto ban on the sale of all internal combustion engined vehicles, and objected to the plan.
Will Petrol and Diesel Cars Still be Banned in 2030?
- The EU Voting Process so far
- Will Petrol and Diesel Cars Still be Available in the EU After 2035?
- Will Petrol and Diesel Cars now be Available in the UK After 2035?
The EU Voting Process so far
The European Parliament voted in February to approve new legislation to achieve a 100 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions on new cars sold within the EU by 2035.
The law would forbid car manufacturers from selling cars which emit any exhaust pipe CO2 at all, effectively meaning they would be restricted to selling purely electric and hydrogen cars.
However, a final confirmation vote, scheduled for 7 March, was postponed over fears that the alliance could vote the new legislation down.
It is expected to go ahead now that the European Commission and Germany, which is home to several car makers that have invested heavily in research and development of e-fuels, have reached a deal to include the exemption within the legislation.
Will Petrol and Diesel Cars Still be Available in the EU After 2035?
Yes, petrol and diesel cars will still be available in the EU after 2035, though the caveat is that these cars will have to run on synthetic fuels. As yet, though, there has been no word on how this will be enforced or policed.
Normal, non-synthetic fuels will remain available at petrol pumps for many years to come, in order to enable petrol and diesel cars sold before the ban came into force to remain on the road.
And unless newer models are made somehow incompatible with these older fuels, there’ll be nothing to stop buyers of such cars from using them.
Will Petrol and Diesel Cars now be Available in the UK After 2035?
At present, it seems unlikely that petrol and diesel cars will be available in the UK after 2035. British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps overruled a spokesman for the Department for Transport, who had previously said that the UK would likely follow the EU’s lead on the matter.
Announcing a consultation on legislation that would compel manufacturers to sell greater proportions of electric vehicles ahead of the ban, Shapps told reporters: “We are not in Europe; we don’t have to do what Europe does. We’ve always been more forward-leaning on this stuff than the EU.”
However, industry experts believe that not allowing some sort of exemption for the use of e-fuels could be damaging to Britain’s car firms.
Writing in Auto Express, Andy Palmer, the former boss of Aston Martin and previously credited with leading development on the Leaf electric car while at Nissan, described Shapps’s attitude as “worryingly myopic”, and suggested it could prevent low-volume British manufacturers from competing with their German and Italian counterparts, pointing out that: “reaching net zero will not be achieved with an exclusive technology; it needs a plurality of technologies fighting to compete.”
As it stands, however, Britain’s ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars will go ahead as planned in 2030, with the sale of new hybrid cars to be banned from 2035 onwards.
For more information, read our full guide: When Will Petrol and Diesel Cars be Banned?