The vice president of sustainability and mobility strategy at BMW says banning the sale of new petrol and and diesel cars isn’t the answer to meeting net zero targets.
This comes following Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s decision to move the ban from 2030 to 2035, meaning only electric and zero-emission vehicles will be available to buy new after that date.
The delay brings the UK in line with the European Union.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Dr. Thomas Becker said policymakers should be focusing on incremental targets, rather than an outright ban on internal combustion engine (ICE) cars.
He said: “Why is there this total focus in the policy debate about ‘When do I force the last customer who may buy an ICE car to go for an electric or take one of the ICE cars that are already there?’”
“Wouldn’t it make more sense to say: ‘How can we get from 30 to 40 [percent of sales, for instance] in the fastest way possible?‘”
Dr. Becker slammed the 2035 ban, saying: “We didn’t support it in the outset. We are critical towards banning.
“We want people to spend a lot of money on our products because they say ‘It’s the best product for me’, because they want it and not because they have to.”
BMW says it wants 25 percent of its sales to be electric by 2026 before hitting 50 percent in 2030.
The German giant currently offers 26 electric cars, either coming soon or in production, including the i7 luxury saloon, iX large SUV, i4 compact saloon and iX3 family SUV.
Source: Sunday Times
Kevan Chippindall-Higgin
The 2035 extension to the sale of ICE cars is, as usual, disingenuous. After 2030, 80% of new cars must be EVs and for every ICE car over the 20% allocation will attract a £15,000 fine PER VEHICLE.
EVs are 50% more expensive to start with. Then there is the issue of charging. People with garages or drives are fine. What about those who live in terraced properties or flats? They will have to rely on public charging points, of which there are insufficient, both now and in future plans. What will it cost to charge? Commercial outlets were for a while more expensive that hydrocarbon fuels.
Then there is the impact on public finances. Road fuel duty raises £50 billion on top of which there is another £10 billion VAT. How is this to be replaced? Domestic electricity only attracts 5% VAT. EVs do not currently pay road tax either, another drain on a country heading towards bankruptcy. The country will need substantial re-wiring. A 150 KW fast charger requires the single phase power supply to 11 terraced houses. To have large numbers of these things will require substantial upgrades to sub stations, generating stations and actual cabling. What will this cost? Who will pay? Silence.