A certain amount of bluster is occurring in regard to two little paragraphs buried in the latest 170-page Budget document.
And they say:
‘The transition to electric vehicles (EVs) is crucial to decarbonising transport and will support growth and productivity across the UK. There are now more than one million electric cars on our roads.
Autumn Budget 2024
‘The government has committed to phasing out new cars that rely solely on internal combustion engines by 2030 and that from 2035 all new cars and vans sold in the UK will be zero emission.’
Auto Trader seems to think the 2030 ban is back in full effect, but SMMT sources are saying ‘it’s just policy’ from the Labour election manifesto.
But the wording seems clear enough, so has it been reintroduced on the quiet? It would appear so.
What we don’t know yet is what will qualify as a hybrid. Will mild hybrids still be allowed after 2030?
If that’s the case, then it doesn’t take much to stick a puny battery under the back bench and a motor onto the gearbox to get any ICE vehicle to qualify as a ‘hybrid’. So it could well be the 2030 ban lite, or in some sort of watered-down form.
We shall have to wait and see.