Not sure if you remember a few weeks ago, but there was an election. I know an awful lot has happened since then in Britain. You may just recall that the Labour Party pledged to reinstate the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars if they won the General Election?
The party included the commitment in its manifesto, claiming this would provide “certainty to manufacturers”.
The thing is they have been rather busy clamping down on free speech and seem to have forgotten about restricting freedom of movement. That’s why we decided to ask the Department of Transport whether there were any official announcements in the government pipeline.
Good news Free Car Mag readers and fellow motorists, here is the first announcement on the matter so we can exclusively reveal that according to a DfT spokesperson: “We’re committed to delivering greener transport by supporting the transition to electric vehicles. “This includes phasing out the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 and accelerating the rollout of charge points. We will set out more details in due course.”
This move reverses the decision of then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in September 2024 to delay the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans in the UK from 2030 to 2035. By contrast Labour said it would “support the transition to electric vehicles” by accelerating the roll out of charge points.
It also committed to help used car buyers switch to electric motoring by “standardising the information supplied on the condition of batteries”.
There is a lot to pick apart there and so far nothing has yet been implemented. The reality is that a peek at the classified ads shows drivers face a lack of truly affordable used electric cars. That is despite rampant depreciation suffered by contemporary models.
For instance, a 2012 Nissan Leaf with just over 50K miles is around £2500 with no indication as to the condition of the battery (which Labour will solve) and a range, with such an old example, which may struggle to better 100 miles. Alternatively a Hyundai Ioniq from 2021 with 50K miles is just under £10,000 with a projected 195 mile range.
By contrast £1700 buys a 2014 Vauxhall Corsa 1.0 ecoFLEX that has covered 60K miles which will cover 55 miles to the gallon. Affordable and usable. With £10,000 to spend a one owner 2021 Peugeot 2008 1.5 diesel with 85K miles on the clock and according to the official figures delivers 65 mpg.
Just a couple of options when there are thousands to choose from, but what if you don’t want an electric car? Well, from 2030 that’s the only option when buying new. How did we get here is a very long story but essentially under the Zev (Zero Emission Vehicle) mandate, at least 22% of new cars and 10% of new vans sold by each manufacturer in the UK in 2024 is required to be zero emission, which in most cases means it has to be pure electric.
This dear motorist is your near future. There is just over five years ago to go and we look forward to more detail coming from the Government very soon. We will be there to report and comment on what is supposed to happen.
