insight DIESEL/PETROL BAN


Government gives diesel its notice


T


he sale of diesel and petrol vans and cars will be banned by 2040. The government announced the measure as it unveiled its plan to


tackle air pollution. The joint Defra and the Department for


Transport UK Plan for Tackling Roadside Nitrogen Dioxide Concentrations is focused on delivering nitrogen dioxide (NO2) compliance at the roadside in “the shortest amount of time”. Next year the government intends to publish a Clean Air Strategy which will address other sources of air pollution. The government argues that “while air quality in the UK has been improving significantly in recent decades, with reductions in emissions of all of the key pollutants, and NO2 levels down by half in the last 15 years … an analysis of over 1,800 of Britain’s major roads show that a small number of these - 81 or 4% - are due to breach legal pollution limits for NO2, with 33 of these outside of London.” To speed up the process, local councils will be asked to produce their own air quality plans by the end of next year. The government will help towns and cities by providing £255m to implement plans. The UK is one of 17 EU countries


breaching annual targets for nitrogen dioxide. The government claims the


problem has been made worse by the failure of the European testing regime for vehicle emissions. The government will also issue a


consultation in the autumn to gather views on measures to support motorists, residents and businesses affected by local plans – such as retrofitting, subsidised car club memberships, exemptions from any vehicle restrictions, or a targeted scrappage scheme for car and van drivers. At the launch, Environment Secretary Michael Gove said: “Today’s plan sets out how we will work with local authorities to tackle the effects of roadside pollution caused by dirty diesels, in particular nitrogen dioxide. “This is one element of the


government’s £3bn programme to clean up the air and reduce vehicle emissions.” Transport Secretary Chris Grayling added: “We are determined to deliver a green revolution in transport and reduce pollution in our towns and cities. “We are taking bold action and want


nearly every car and van on UK roads to be zero emission by 2050 which is why we’ve committed to investing more than £600m in the development, manufacture and use of ultra-low emission vehicles by 2020.”


Reaction to the government’s plan has been mixed – with little real enthusiasm from either side of the divide.


FAIRFUELUK Like the curate’s egg there is some good and bad in the Defra Air Quality Plan. We welcome that Michael Gove has listened by not using punitive toxic tax hikes to hit hard working drivers. But banning new diesel AND petrol car sales by 2040 will cost trillions to consumers and the economy. It is inevitable that carbon- based fuels will be phased out to favour cleaner fuels, but to do it as a cliff edge in 20 years is naïve and ill thought out.


ROAD HAULAGE ASSOCIATION “We are concerned that once again, the devil will be in the detail” said chief executive Richard Burnett. “The industry is already taking action through the rapid up take of ultra-low emission Euro VI lorries. However, we have concerns over Defra’s original clean air zone proposals as they failed to consider the negative impact of a premature introduction of restrictions on pre-2014 lorries.”


TRL


Denis Naberezhnykh, TRL’s head of ULEV and energy, welcomed the news of the 2040 deadline, saying that it was largely in line with the government’s existing commitment to almost entirely decarbonise the transport sector by 2050, which would have required that sale of new vehicles from 2040 are restricted to zero-emission capable vehicles. In order to achieve the 2050 commitment, it is vital that the government continues to support the public and the industry with policies that encourage purchasing of zero-emission – capable vehicles, and charging infrastructure strategy that maximises zero-emission driving potential. • TRL is formerly the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory.


RAC RAC roads policy spokesman Nick Lyes said the plan to stop the sale of conventional vehicles by 2040 was a “bold” one, but that the UK had a huge amount of work to do if it was to meet deadline. He added: “There is little evidence to suggest that the UK’s energy infrastructure will be ready for the largescale shift to electric vehicles.


4 VanUser August 2017


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