UPDATE: This consultation has concluded – thank you everyone that submitted and shared your views! Now let’s see what the end result is in the coming months.

It’s easy to feel powerless and separated from the world during these difficult times. The world has effectively ground to a halt with the Covid19 lockdown, but the challenge of climate change lives on, lurking quietly behind the pandemic. If you’re wondering what to do with the self-isolation, how does fighting climate change from the comfort of your own home sound? All it takes to clean up our roads is a simple email.

The Department for Transport and Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV for short) still have an open consultation on when to phase out sales of petrol and diesel cars. DecarboniseNow have submitted our evidence already and will be here to help the department phase out our unfit-for-purpose cars and vans. But OLEV wants your views, and now is unique chance to get involved.

The government currently has a ‘mission’ (not a properly enforced ban) to phase out sales by 2040. This consultation is aiming to change that to 2035, and include banning hybrid vehicles, which still use oil for fuel. While this is a big improvement, the earliest that industry and environmental campaigns alike have discovered that a sales ban could be brought in is 2030. While five years might not sound like much, not only is delaying clean transport by five years needlessly wrong, but it would actually reduce emissions twice as fast as a 2035 date, and three times as fast as a 2040 one. Road transport is also the biggest source of emissions in the UK, and accounts for over a quarter of our carbon dioxide emissions. The 2035 date is also not set in stone, and a 2040 date could still be the one that the government goes for. We must make our voices heard, and accelerate the switchover to cleaner transport.

Help us in the race to clean up our roads. The consultation is open until Friday the 31^st of July, and we need you!Click this link to be taken to the consultation page. Write an email to the address provided, and let them know you care about a low carbon future. Can’t think what to write, or don’t have time to put it into your own words? We’ve got you covered – below is an example letter of the kind of things you can copy and paste (just don’t forget to write your name). If you want references for any of these facts, or would just like further reading, click here. If you want more information about our electric vehicles campaign, click here.

Cleaning up transport is one of the biggest things we can do right now to fight climate change. By writing in, you’re part of the team that beat climate change. Thanks for your help, and take care!

 

Ban on sales of conventional vehicles by 2030

Dear Office for Low Emission Vehicles,

The UK has an existential and immediate need to reduce emissions to combat climate change. The largest source of emissions is surface transport, at 23% of the UK’s emissions. The earliest possible technically feasible and societally acceptable phase out date must be implemented, which has been highlighted by National Grid, the Committee on Climate Change and the National Infrastructure Commission and many others as 2030. The 2030 ban should extend to all petrol and diesel cars and vans, and include all hybrid electric vehicles, which risk breaching long term emission goals.

Impacts of a 2030 ban include;

-A 2030 ban on conventional vehicles reduces emissions twice as quickly as a 2035 date and three times as fast as 2040.

-National Grid have stated that the UK grid could transition as easily to a 2030 ban as a 2040 one, and would actively support a 2030 ban.

-A 2030 ban saves the economy more than a 2035 or 2040 ban, up to £20bn.

-The automotive industry plans 5-8 years ahead for new car models, and can integrate 2030 more easily into its plans.

-Fully electric cars already have lower lifetime costs than conventional models and will be cheaper to buy upfront by 2025 at the latest, making them the cheapest option well before 2030.

-Over 100,000 UK based jobs could be in electric vehicle production by 2030 if the ban is brought forward and boosts the British car industry.

Barriers to a 2030 ban include;

-Scaling up manufacturing of electric vehicles.

-Political risk and misleading information about electric vehicles.

-Slower rates of adding charging points.

-The electric grid will also need investment for upgrades.

Measures required to reduce these include;

-The 2030 ban must be more binding than the current 2040 mission, and have mandatory sales targets for electric cars for each company, with these increasing every year until 2030.

-Grants for electric cars should continue out to 2025 and increase if needed. VAT should be cut for electric vehicles, which the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders estimates could save £5,600 per vehicle. Factories and production facilities should receive tax relief.

-Yearly targets for public charging infrastructure should be implemented alongside electric vehicle sales targets, and driver payment options standardised.

-The government must source the required investment  for electric grid reinforcement, and align regulatory requirements for ‘smart charging’ wherever possible.

Yours sincerely,