When will ICEs be banned next?

By Gary S. Vasilash

Although the U.S. government is rolling out various and sundry rules, regulations and funding schemes meant to increase the number of electric vehicles on the roads, elsewhere governments are drawing lines in the proverbial sand and saying, “After this date certain, no more ICE.”

In the UK there had initially been a plan to ban the sale of new vehicles with combustion engines (gas or diesel) by 2040, but even that was considered extreme by people in the auto industry.

Still, in 2020 the UK government set the time when it would no longer be permissible to sell new combustion vehicles: 2030.

But last year, British prime minister Rishi Sunak, member of the Conservative Party, pushed that deadline back by five years, to 2035. That happens to be when the European Union has announced it will enact a ban. Seems like there was something the UK and the EU could agree on.

(It is worth noting that the Germans are taking a carve out: it will be permissible to sell combustion engine powered vehicles there beyond 2035—if those vehicles use carbon-neutral fuels. Odds are there aren’t going to be a whole lot of e-fuels available there or anywhere else at that time, unless the big oil companies go at it right away, and given that as about 85% of crude oil by weight is carbon, carbon neutrality will be a tough assignment.)

Back to the UK.

There will be an election for a new prime minister in the UK on July 4.

Sunak will be facing Keir Starmer of the Labour Party.

The party has written a “manifesto” outlining its approach to various social and economic issues facing the UK.

And in it there’s this:

“Labour will support the transition to electric vehicles by accelerating the roll out of charge points, giving certainty to manufacturers by restoring the phase-out date of 2030 for new cars with internal combustion engines, and supporting buyers of second-hand electric cars by standardising the information supplied on the condition of batteries.”

That’s right: going back to 2030.

Somehow this probably isn’t “giving certainty to manufacturers.”

Anything but.