UK to ban sales of petrol and diesel cars from 2030

For Brits, the end of the ICE age will come sooner than expected.

The UK government has said it will ban the sale of cars and vans powered purely by internal combustion engines from 2030. This is a decade earlier than a previous deadline announced three years ago and means electrified vehicles (including the Audi RS e-Tron GT pictured above) will naturally become more mainstream in the UK.

While purely ICE-powered vehicles will be banned, sales of plug-in hybrids that can drive a “significant distance” with zero emissions will be permitted until 2035.

The move is part of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s 10-point plan to make the UK carbon-neutral by 2050. Overall, road transport is reportedly the biggest single contributor to carbon emissions in UK.

Other key measures are intended to quicken the pace of the nation’s transition to renewable energy sources, encourage the adoption of electricity for domestic heating, replacing gas- and oil-burning systems, and speed the development of hydrogen as an energy source.

It’s a blueprint for what Johnson calls a “green industrial revolution”.

His plan contains several measures designed to tempt drivers to make the switch to EVs. These include spending the equivalent of $1 billion on grants to EV buyers and investing in the growth of the public charging network.

So far this year, EVs have accounted for only 5.5 percent of new car sales in the UK, but this represents a year-on-year increase of almost 170 percent.

UK-based car makers, including its biggest, Jaguar Land Rover, mostly gave Johnson’s plan the thumbs up.

Bringing forward the ban on ICE sales to 2030 makes the UK’s plan one of the most ambitious in Europe. Norway is aiming for 2025, but EVs (including plug-in hybrids) already make up more than 50 percent of new car sales there. Germany is also considering a 2030 ban, while France has set a target of 2040.