New car sales in July continued to drop, with petrol cars down 9.3%. Diesel cars crashed even further, with a drop of 20.1%, according to the latest sales data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
While new petrol car sales are down this month, they’re actually up by 4.3% for the year to date. Diesel sales, on the other hand, are down 11% overall. The blame for the significant drop has been laid squarely at the government’s feet, as a result of its plans to drop petrol and diesel cars by 2040, plans for city centre charging and the confusion surrounding a potential diesel scrappage scheme.
Scrappage scheme delayed
Many expected the government to announce a diesel scrappage scheme as part of its recent air quality plan. This would deliver on the promise made in May to introduce compensation for drivers who scrap or retrofit their old diesel cars. Fast forward to July though, and the government has instead launched a consultation on a targeted scrappage scheme.
The onus is now on local authorities to come up with their own schemes as part of a drive to reduce excess NOx pollution over 18 months. These will then be signed off by the government. The new approach has been met with plenty of criticism. Former Liberal Democrat Energy Secretary Ed Davey MP states,
“The government promised compensation to help diesel drivers replace their cars just a few months ago. Now the scrappage scheme has been all but scrapped. It’s a shameful betrayal of diesel car drivers and shows the utter lack of ambition of this plan.”
Is scrappage the right approach?
Interestingly, those representing the motor industry are not yet convinced by the practicalities of scrappage schemes. SMMT’s Chief Executive Mike Hawes told Auto Express magazine,
“The difficulty is two-fold. Where is the problem of air quality? It will be in very localised areas, so which cars are you going to target? These located in the area or those moving in and out?
“Secondly, it’s the oldest cars you want to get off the road, pre-Euro 4. That vehicle is over 12 years old, but there are over two million of those on the road. But if you own one of those you are not the average new car purchaser. How do you incentivise someone who has a car worth a couple of grand to spend £25,000?”
Car makers to the rescue
While policymakers and pundits continue to argue over the perceived pros and cons of a diesel scrappage scheme, it could be car makers who end up leading the charge to secure a workable strategy for people wanting to move to cleaner diesels and alternative fuel cars. BMW/Mini has announced its own version of a scrappage scheme, which could see owners of older diesels being offered up to €2,000 (£1,800 at the time of writing) off the price of a new BMW or Mini.
Branded as a ‘fleet renewal campaign,’ because the German car company insists that it won’t scrap any traded-in cars, qualifying car owners can choose from a range of cars that meet Euro 6 regulations and that emit 130g/km or less of carbon dioxide. According to Carbuyer, this means not only can buyers choose from a diesel BMW 3 Series 320d or the stonking BMW 5 Series 530d, plug-in hybrids also qualify. These include the Mini Countryman Cooper and the electric-powered BMW i3.
It’s worth noting though that BMW doesn’t stipulate exactly how much of the discount you can expect when you come in with your beaten up old Volvo diesel. It will be “dependent upon model bought.” The scheme is expected to be rolled out across the EU by the end of August. It will run until the end of December. If successful, we wouldn’t be surprised to see BMW extend the offer.
While the government, rival politicians and the media continue to argue over scrappage, perhaps BMW’s innovative approach is the pragmatic solution. After all, it’s car makers who stand to lose out if diesel continues to be the focus of the pollution debate. Thus car brands must play their role in bringing about the serious change needed to reduce pollution levels across the UK’s towns and cities.
Is the government doing enough to ensure that diesel drivers aren’t being left stranded? Or should it be up to the car industry to help resolve the NOx crisis? Let us know your thoughts below.
There are two solutions that could work but probably won’t have enough profit margin for car makers or won’t be allowed by fuel ( petrol and diesel producers).
New electric cars have motors fitted to each wheel, or at least 2 wheels, it should be relatively easy to produce and retro fit drive units to existing fossil fuel cars. Remove the engines, gear boxes and differentials and replace with battery packs.
A second solution would be to change the fuel system on petrol and diesel cars to run on hydrogen.
Neither solution would be that cheap, but would massively reduce co2 and nox emissions.
This would further reduce co2 because the reduction of new cars would be lower , saving the production of co2 when a new car is manufactured.
Either solution would be cheaper in terms of co2 than completely replacing good sound vehicles with totally new vehicles.
I would prefer the hydrogen solution, as it would put less strain on the national grid!
The best way to get twelve year old cars off the road is for the government to pay a premium for them to be scrapped. That way the overall numbers of polluting vehicles is reduced. The only proviso would be to restrict this to one per household and to pitch the subsidy to an attractive but not lucrative level. I don’t believe the current hysteria regarding modern diesels is justified and at best is only attacking a tiny fraction of the pollution problem.
The government should leave diesel owners alone, afterall it’s their fault people bought them in the first place,and motor manufacturers should stop making diesels then they would disappear through natural wastage.
It’s a shame the Civil Service aren’t up-to-date with reality. Diesel cars have been available for the last few years that give off ZERO Nitrogen Dioxide and under 100 g/km of Carbon Dioxide – as I’m currently driving one. If they took action now to stop car makers selling ‘dirtier’ diesels the situation – if it is due to diesel – would show improvement in a small number of years. No need to wait for Electric nonsense – unless they are planning to return to stage coach type technology and have inns where you can drop in and change your battery 🙂
hi
which vehicles give off zero NOx ?
thx
Why do we need a scrappage scheme for a rule change in 23 years time? Anything bought over the next 5 years will very much be end of life by 2040 so it doesn’t matter too much especially as it would be Euro 6 compliant anyhow.
The legislation is for hybrids to be allowed anyway, so they could have a hair dryer attached to a big gas guzzling unit and that would be fine (The US does this today in order to use hybrid marketing). Massive loop hole left by Gove to allow a ton of wiggle room.
Also how much of the particulates are down to brake pads ? should we have electric/magnetic brakes to stop those?
Diesel emissions can be reduced by 60%. There is a company that has invented a method of achieving this.
It is done by heating the catalytic converter using a 48 volt energy supply. This heats the catalytic converter
so that it performs to it maximum. A catalytic converter is most inefficient when cold.
I bought a Diesel car as this seemed to be what we were being encouraged to do. As per usual, we are incentivised/encouraged into a situation, and then betrayed for doing it. People are responding to the encouragement to use our cars less (cycle to work schemes, improved (marginally) public transport, etc.), and then they wonder why car sales are down? That combined with the crippling costs of fuel and the general rising cost of living, not to mention the high cost of parking in any town or city, certainly explains why this situation is entirely to be expected, and will no doubt worsen.
I have a 2l Peugeot 308 Gt Line Bluehdi 150BNP and I pay zero road tax because my emissions are 97. Some petrol cars have higher emissions than mine. The government are simply shooting themselves in the both feet and going to piss 99% of the driving population off. If they do away with petrol and diesel cars then the government will lose so much money its crazy through road and fuel tax. They clearly haven’t thought this policy out. They would need to also do something for the increase in everyone’s electricity bills as well if they made it only electric cars which they won’t do as they again will lose out on income.
Diesel and petrol cars are here to stay because even the hybrid cars still need fuel to start them so there will always be a need for fuel.
Tesla have developed a car battery than can do up to 500 miles on a single charge. This would be great news except the cost of the cars are stupidly expensive and people just won’t guy them on that grounds. Until this country can get a battery car that can do that kind of miles and for the car to cost the same as a petrol or diesel car then the government will simply not get this done.
Of course the real problem isn’t the diesel cars, they’re just a convenient scapegoat as all the owners will go all out to avoid getting done over.
No the actual problems are the diesel buses, coaches, vans, TRAINS and trucks that are the ones producing the most pollution. Most of these classes of vehicle are run all day every day.
I’ve capitalized trains as they’re the ones that central government has most influence over but the amount of lines being converted to run electric trains shrinks by the year as HS2 soaks up all the budget.
So maybe the SMMT should be concentrating on the larger vehicles as electric car technology seems to be on the point of being developed enough to go mainstream but where as the electric vans, buses and trucks? There were a few hydrogen buses in London a few years ago but I believe they’ve gone now. Anyway, water vapour (their main output) is as much a greenhouse gas as CO2, so that technology isn’t the best line to pursue in the longer term.
People with cars over 12 years old which are the main polluters will generally be in no financial state to change to a new car unless they were given at least 10 grand scrappage. Doing this would not be popular with the majority though.
I’ve just realised that my 05 petrol Hyundai Tucson is now 12 years old! And you’re right, I’m in no financial state to even find the money to downsize to buy a smaller used petrol car let alone a new electric one. Thankfully I’ll be 74 in 2040 so if I can just keep it running until I retire, I’ll be thankful.
Once I have no car, I’ll just have to rely on my bus pass (if they haven’t scrapped that for OAP’s by then)? Or perhaps get myself a little pony and cart to go shopping?? At least I can recharge it totally free with grass from my lawn and apples from the tree.
Why the panic? How can they possibly get rid of diesel and petrol altogether? The government has had a knee jerk reaction without giving proper consideration to the problem. I am very concerned that there is a high demand on electricity now without everyone having electric cars draining the system.
Having seen a government steer us towards diesel cars only to tell us we now cannot have them I wonder how long it would be before the government of the day tell electric car owners they cannot have them as there is insufficient electricity to run them. Or raising electric prices so that we cannot afford to light our homes never mind our run our cars.
There is now way that petrol and diesel cars will be banned by 2040 .
What will we replace them with ? Electrics ? Where will we get the electricity from ? Our electricity generating capacity is inadequate now, with every cold spell resulting in warnings that we were on the brink of a “brown-out” or even a black-out. It’ll be 20yrs or more before we get any meaningful nuclear power thanks to the wholesale abandonment of our nuclear policy because of pressure by the idiots of greenpeace and marxist university lecturers boycotting colleges where nuclear science was on the curriculum. We are closing gas and coal power stations because of EU rules about pollution and as we probably won’t be allowed Brexit because the establishment and the banks don’t want it, we will have to abide by EU rules in the future.
And what about other vehicles – the no petrol/diesel rule doesn’t apply to motorbikes, quad-bikes, mopeds, agricultural vehicles and machinery, contractors plant, HGVs, buses, military vehicles, emergency vehicles, vans over 2 tons, emergency generators, aircraft, boats, garden machinery and industrial engines.
So, what about fuel supplies for all these engines ? Are we going to have to pay extra to maintain some kind of supply chain for all the “exempt” engines ?
Will there be a timeframe in which all exisitng petrol and diesel cars will have to be scrapped ? What about those people who wish to keep such vehicles and use them for 10, 15 or more years after the ban ? Not everyone will be able to afford to buy a new electric – many people rely on cheap, older, pre-owned cars for essential transport.
As usual, the governments announced smells of a knee-jerk reaction rather than a meticulously considered policy.
The Continental SCED system indeed needs 48volts and one must presume would require to be integrated fully into the vehicle’s systems to utilise sensors already in existence and no doubt others. I cannot see much hope as a retro fit there.
Hydrogen is a much more attractive fuel (taking the discussion out of the diesel arena). Its use as a fuel in a 4 stroke engine will surely obviate need for all the other expensively emissions ‘junk’ fitted – cats, EGR’s and all. Generation of Hydrogen is an issue but there are developments ongoing for localised production at possibly filling station level…
Wars have taken place over oil and I can see Lithium and Cobalt (Congo a major source – unlovely prospect) beingsubject of territorial conflicts. However I don’t expect Kahn, Gove and the rest of the regional and national shower of politicians ever thinking of that. Nor The various environmental fascists either.
Electric cars for all will never work ,as there are not enough charging points ,and never will be , ppl don’t like waiting behind 1 car n a petrol station , what will it be like when they have to wait hours in the q to charge a battery car , hahahahah and when ppl run out of power on the M way with nowhere to charge , u can’t pour electricity out of a can , and what about vans and lorrys , where does extra electricity come from coal fired power station in France
I recommend that the government abolish Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), and recoup its losses by raising Road Fuel Duty. This would make the polluting gas guzzlers a really good buy for drivers who do low mileages, and encourage those who do high mileages to buy vehicles with lower and cleaner emissions. Those drivers probably change their vehicles frequently anyway.
The old argument against doing this is obsolete (i.e. a tax disc ensures that the vehicle is insured and MOTed).
DVLC at Cloud Cuckoo-land, Swansea could also be cut down to size.
HYDROGEN HYDROGEN HYDROGEN all the way, WAKEUP. What are other countries doing, hmmm in 5years time we can VOTE AGAIN, or remove the anti car / diesel people.
V W has started this POLLUTION plus now other car makers are in the mix, why not replace the polluting car’s THEY made ,with the same like for like non polluting car of the same make F O C. Please V W. SKODA BMW .
Diesel kills and both manufacturers and government knew this from day 1. There was a glut of unused diesel so it was pushed as a cheap alternative. NOX is killing people and children in built up areas slsloy everyday as symptoms develop.
Green electricity supply exceeded fossil electricity last month and will continue to do so as fossil power stations are closed. Kingsnorth power station was demolished just two weeks ago.
Hybrid is the way forward in the interim, but as cars like Tesla are getting 300mile ranges it won’t belong before Hybrid can be surpassed.
Those complaining about their diesel being worthless you didn’t complain when buying it because you bought on saving yourselves money due to the range. You didn’t once look into how its killing you and everyone around you with NOX.
Hope your happy putting money before your own health and everyone who got in your car.
Trust no large corporation or government and research before you buy.
So if it’s not windy and it’s not very light i e December your electric car is going nowhere . You cannot rely on green generation alone it just cannot do enough gigawatt s to run the national grid at current demand . Change the 27 million vehicles on the road to electric power and you will not be able to meet demand with the current electrical infustructure ,plus as demand for electricity goes up so will the price so you won t be able to afford it especially if the government start s slapping tax on it to replace what it is losing in fuel tax it gets now .
I just got a new diesel would not look at any thing else by the time it’s 23 years old it will be long gone to the scrap yard . Just more govt clap trap to tell us what to do
i personally think the government are scare mongering us, and there is a plus to diesel vehicles they are easier to start in the winter months than petrol vehicles.
No-one seems to have mentioned lpg. On a previous petrol car (Mercedes 3.0l) I fitted an lpg conversion – cost about £750. Its performance was wonderful. Hardly any loss of performance and halving of my fuel bill. So can I buy an old petrol engined car and convert it to lpg in the future? Perhaps I am worrying too much as I’ll be 98 in 2040.
I would like to know how they are going to make an electric motor home or articulated truck. I cannot see that in the near future can you?
I do think the way to go is hydrogen at least that way not all combustion engines will be lost.
You know?
I have read all thees posts and I have come to the conclusion that we should definitely all get nice new Horses and carriages. We will all slow down to a comfortable pace and benefit from the beautiful roses and vegetables as a bonus.
Like that comment but if you look back at the age of the horse and carriage you will see London had a different pollution problem , Street s covered with horse manure which I believe lead to the spread of nasty deises being spread around by flies and the like. Indeed when the number of horses began to reduce due to the use of internal combustion engines they were praised for keeping the streets cleaner .
Another Conservative Party attack on the poorest in our society! Private cars are only used for a couple of hours a day. Even the oldest privately owned diesel’s pollution is as nothing to targeting those old trucks and busses we see smoking away 24/7.
And what about CLASSIC CAR owners? We always restrict our milage and always maintain our “old” diesels to the highest standards. I’ve often seen “new diesels” emitting more pollution than my 1987 Land Rover which, incidentally, has already repaid its “carbon debt” many times over.
For older cars that have repaid their carbon debt, replacing with a new car – even an electric one – actually means *increasing* global emissions, due to materials extraction, manufacturing and shipping pollution, not to mention that newer cars have a very short usable life.
When we get rid of this idiot government, perhaps the next will change this idea on its head and we’ll all be encouraged to buy gas guzzlers haha. Let’s face it they encouraged us to buy diesel then try to make us pay more for their mistake 🙁
Well. As far as I personally am concerned the successive governments have SH** in their own britches on this one.
I personally have always driven older cars powered by both petrol and diesel. They are generally more reliable and when they need repairing even at the roadside it can be done with a bag of spanners and a basic diagnostic tool and skills learned from boyhood (sorry girls) and not a new box with a part in it and at outrageous cost and no guarantee that the part is a genuine item.
I am currently running a 2002 BMW 3 series 325Ci Convertible Auto and a 2003 3 series 320i 2.2 litre Auto Touring.
Both are low mileage and in rather good condition especially the 325Ci Convertible with still only 66,000 miles on it.
I sold my 2004 108,000 miles Volvo V70 D5 163bhp SE Geartronic earlier this year and just before the fell off of the price ladder.
I will stay with my two BMW’s until my pension run dry or this balmy government turn the taps off on the fuel pumps and puts everyone either back on foot or for a faster journey – on roller skates after they have sorted out our disgusting roads and some of the tree route ridden footpaths.
can someone tell me when a electric car is on the market that will tow a caravan, or are they going to totally distroy the caravan/leisure industry ;DONT THINK IT WILL BE IN MY LIFE-TIME
A REASONED APPROACH ??
I’d often leave my individual transport at home if we had a decent Public Transport network, such as I enjoyed in the Netherlands.
If we all ditch diesel and gasoline: GO ELECTRIC, as government suggests: then let’s consider that the global sales figure for cars and light commercial vehicles in 2016 was 88,000,000 units. Does our planet really have the raw materials for that many electric vehicle batteries? And how are they to be disposed of at the end of their 8 year life? Not to mention that the world’s production of well-named “rare” earth metals come exclusively from China.
All these ill-thought-out proposals will do is to massively increase manufacturing in the world’s most polluting countries – China, India, et al. – leaving us bankrupt, with higher global pollution, and hostages to the China’s ambitions for global expansionism.
I don’t see the Prime Minister, or any other Minister for that matter, on the television being driven around in an electric limousine.
Another point is the recently announced huge rise in the first year and more in VED.
Trains, buses, shipping aircraft, heating in homes, industry etc etc are conveniently forgotten about, as drivers are attacked again and again.
So if you want to defend your mobility, see http://www.cantpaywontpay.london
Remember London is just the trial run, such schemes will be coming to a town near you!
As far as I understand it is the sale of petrol and diesel which is banned as from 2040. What we will see then is a hiken rosd tax to force cars of the road. Where is rhe majority of people going to charge up their electric cars, with no driveway and or living in a flat. And what about people living in rualal areas? Hybrid cars should not be banned.
The UK government maybe pushing its luck. Brexit was only the tip of the iceberg. There are too many regulations, too many changes within short time range, too many initiatives that waste time and taxes. The UK is only 0.87 % of global population and dropping. If Britain ceased to exist tomorrow the environmentalists would be hard pressed to measure the difference. Get off our backs.
Some brilliant comments here, I really hope our inept government are able to see them!
in 2040 i’ll be 83 & our son will be 50 & even he said its all scare mongering cos it wont happen, 50 ton lorries (we’re british we dont drive trucks lol) being pulled by electrickery from London to Scotland! yeah right! we dont see many buses with big diesel engines in north London & the surrounding area being changed to electric.
Now theres one really big thing that you’re all forgetting alas completely missing, at the moment its only one, but i bet there’ll be more to come & thats a HUMONGOUS GREAT BIG POWER STN being built thats owned by THE CHINESE. Not the the British cos we’re skint, but come over here & build & open a company & our government will give you money. So make all these electric vehicles & then sell electric made over here by us to us & some silly price that we’ve got to pay & we’ll all want our petrol & diesels back. WHO WANTS ELECTRIC NOW! Well look at the tax the government will make? thats if the chinese decide to pay up like Amazon, Starbucks & Costa. You’ll all look at your vehicles & say “ive got a chink in my bodywork” (well i thought it was funny!)
Hydrogen – unfortunately the easiest method of producing it is by using electricity.
Diesel and petrol will still exist whilst we continue to break down crude oil into its constituent parts at refineries. So what will happen to the excess? Are we no longer going to rely on crude? Unlikely. Electric aircraft is a very long way away (and possible not even viable given weather conditions at altitude).
It took a very long time for petrol engines to replace horses and electric cars aren’t going to replace petrol engines any quicker, despite government announcements. Where is the electricity going to come from to power these vehicles? Would be interesting to work out how many GWs it’ll take to charge every car if it were electric.
So firstly my question to the goverment would be if you say up to 40,000 people per year die due poor air quality produced from diesel and petrol engines then prove it to us all as 140,000 people per year die from smoking, Maybe they should look at that first and ban tobacco and make sure E,cigs are the only form of smoking allowed. Then the second question is if electric vehicles are the way forward then why does not one minister turn up at Downing Street in an electric vehicle? Should they not lead by example? Then 3rdly how are we all going to charge these vehicles? We are already putting hundreds and hundreds of diesel powered engines in warehouses and fields across the UK as back up powerbanks because the national grid cannot cope with everyone turning on the kettle after a 1 hour special of Eastenders!! 4th: What is the cost to the enviroment of an electric vehicle from WELL to WHEEL? Are they mining all the elements using electric 500 tons dumper trucks and diggers? 6: Where are we all going to park to charge these vehicles ? Are we all going to have leads from our front doors across the pavement or just fight for the 2 stations they have avaliable at IKEA? And finally what about the Maritime and Aviation industry? The 15 largest ships in the world burning pure crude oil must produce as much pollution as a island the size of the UK. I cannot help but think this is another stealth tax from the UK goverment and just another pile of smoke and mirrors. Once again they have not looked into anything from infostructure to cost of the average human on a basic salary. Maybe they should look at giving Stagecoach, Virgin and First Bus a heavty contribution so they can reduce there Bus/Train tickets and improve there services then maybe more people would consider public transport and reduce emitions that way. We know things need to change and we would all like to life in a cleaner greener world but once again the UK motorist is targeted again because they have no fresh thinking or ideas!!!
It makes me wild, if you park in the City of Westminster now, you have to pay by phone with Ringo. You have to have your car registration on their system for it to work. They have now started charging a 50% extra surcharge for driving a diesel car! This is a complete con, and doesn’t make any logical sense, because while you are parked, you are not emitting any fumes anyway. The council’s are now joining in the war against diesel drivers. My diesel car emits only 128g/km. How many petrol vehicles emit far more than that but don’t get this stupid ‘surcharge’!??
I fully agree with everyone’s comments on here about it being impossible to have no petrol and diesel engines by 2040. The government know that they will be safely off the radar when 2040 comes along, so they can give these ridiculous claims and know they won’t ever have to fulfil their promises.
Hi I have a 10 year old mondeo diesel and unless the government pay for diesel cars to be scrapped, I will end up with no car
As I have no savings , so what are
People like myself to do
I personally think the government want diesel cars off the road because they are more economical so drivers do not fill up as many times as petrol car owners so they are losing revenue. I drive a blue diesel engined car which has been proved as clean if not cleaner than petrol cars
There are two solutions that could work but probably won’t have enough profit margin for car makers or won’t be allowed by fuel ( petrol and diesel producers).
New electric cars have motors fitted to each wheel, or at least 2 wheels, it should be relatively easy to produce and retro fit drive units to existing fossil fuel cars. Remove the engines, gear boxes and differentials and replace with battery packs.
A second solution would be to change the fuel system on petrol and diesel cars to run on hydrogen.
Neither solution would be that cheap, but would massively reduce co2 and nox emissions.
This would further reduce co2 because the reduction of new cars would be lower , saving the production of co2 when a new car is manufactured.
Either solution would be cheaper in terms of co2 than completely replacing good sound vehicles with totally new vehicles.
I would prefer the hydrogen solution, as it would put less strain on the national grid!
The best way to get twelve year old cars off the road is for the government to pay a premium for them to be scrapped. That way the overall numbers of polluting vehicles is reduced. The only proviso would be to restrict this to one per household and to pitch the subsidy to an attractive but not lucrative level. I don’t believe the current hysteria regarding modern diesels is justified and at best is only attacking a tiny fraction of the pollution problem.
The government should leave diesel owners alone, afterall it’s their fault people bought them in the first place,and motor manufacturers should stop making diesels then they would disappear through natural wastage.
It’s a shame the Civil Service aren’t up-to-date with reality. Diesel cars have been available for the last few years that give off ZERO Nitrogen Dioxide and under 100 g/km of Carbon Dioxide – as I’m currently driving one. If they took action now to stop car makers selling ‘dirtier’ diesels the situation – if it is due to diesel – would show improvement in a small number of years. No need to wait for Electric nonsense – unless they are planning to return to stage coach type technology and have inns where you can drop in and change your battery 🙂
hi
which vehicles give off zero NOx ?
thx
Why do we need a scrappage scheme for a rule change in 23 years time? Anything bought over the next 5 years will very much be end of life by 2040 so it doesn’t matter too much especially as it would be Euro 6 compliant anyhow.
The legislation is for hybrids to be allowed anyway, so they could have a hair dryer attached to a big gas guzzling unit and that would be fine (The US does this today in order to use hybrid marketing). Massive loop hole left by Gove to allow a ton of wiggle room.
Also how much of the particulates are down to brake pads ? should we have electric/magnetic brakes to stop those?
Diesel emissions can be reduced by 60%. There is a company that has invented a method of achieving this.
It is done by heating the catalytic converter using a 48 volt energy supply. This heats the catalytic converter
so that it performs to it maximum. A catalytic converter is most inefficient when cold.
I bought a Diesel car as this seemed to be what we were being encouraged to do. As per usual, we are incentivised/encouraged into a situation, and then betrayed for doing it. People are responding to the encouragement to use our cars less (cycle to work schemes, improved (marginally) public transport, etc.), and then they wonder why car sales are down? That combined with the crippling costs of fuel and the general rising cost of living, not to mention the high cost of parking in any town or city, certainly explains why this situation is entirely to be expected, and will no doubt worsen.
I have a 2l Peugeot 308 Gt Line Bluehdi 150BNP and I pay zero road tax because my emissions are 97. Some petrol cars have higher emissions than mine. The government are simply shooting themselves in the both feet and going to piss 99% of the driving population off. If they do away with petrol and diesel cars then the government will lose so much money its crazy through road and fuel tax. They clearly haven’t thought this policy out. They would need to also do something for the increase in everyone’s electricity bills as well if they made it only electric cars which they won’t do as they again will lose out on income.
Diesel and petrol cars are here to stay because even the hybrid cars still need fuel to start them so there will always be a need for fuel.
Tesla have developed a car battery than can do up to 500 miles on a single charge. This would be great news except the cost of the cars are stupidly expensive and people just won’t guy them on that grounds. Until this country can get a battery car that can do that kind of miles and for the car to cost the same as a petrol or diesel car then the government will simply not get this done.
Of course the real problem isn’t the diesel cars, they’re just a convenient scapegoat as all the owners will go all out to avoid getting done over.
No the actual problems are the diesel buses, coaches, vans, TRAINS and trucks that are the ones producing the most pollution. Most of these classes of vehicle are run all day every day.
I’ve capitalized trains as they’re the ones that central government has most influence over but the amount of lines being converted to run electric trains shrinks by the year as HS2 soaks up all the budget.
So maybe the SMMT should be concentrating on the larger vehicles as electric car technology seems to be on the point of being developed enough to go mainstream but where as the electric vans, buses and trucks? There were a few hydrogen buses in London a few years ago but I believe they’ve gone now. Anyway, water vapour (their main output) is as much a greenhouse gas as CO2, so that technology isn’t the best line to pursue in the longer term.
People with cars over 12 years old which are the main polluters will generally be in no financial state to change to a new car unless they were given at least 10 grand scrappage. Doing this would not be popular with the majority though.
I’ve just realised that my 05 petrol Hyundai Tucson is now 12 years old! And you’re right, I’m in no financial state to even find the money to downsize to buy a smaller used petrol car let alone a new electric one. Thankfully I’ll be 74 in 2040 so if I can just keep it running until I retire, I’ll be thankful.
Once I have no car, I’ll just have to rely on my bus pass (if they haven’t scrapped that for OAP’s by then)? Or perhaps get myself a little pony and cart to go shopping?? At least I can recharge it totally free with grass from my lawn and apples from the tree.
Why the panic? How can they possibly get rid of diesel and petrol altogether? The government has had a knee jerk reaction without giving proper consideration to the problem. I am very concerned that there is a high demand on electricity now without everyone having electric cars draining the system.
Having seen a government steer us towards diesel cars only to tell us we now cannot have them I wonder how long it would be before the government of the day tell electric car owners they cannot have them as there is insufficient electricity to run them. Or raising electric prices so that we cannot afford to light our homes never mind our run our cars.