These Countries Want to Ban All Vehicles That Run on Gas or Diesel
by Paul A. Eisenstein
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If France’s Environment Minister has his way, the country could join a puny but growing list of countries that plan to ban vehicles running on gasoline, diesel or other fossil fuels.
The proposal was announced late last week by Minister Nicolas Hulot and appeared timed to coincide with the G20 meeting in Germany where many European leaders, including fresh French President Emmanuel Macron, challenged U.S. President Donald Trump over his decision to walk away from the Paris Climate Accord.
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Several countries have already laid out ambitious plans to eliminate fossil fuel-powered automobiles. Environment Minister Hulot said it won’t be effortless for France, either. “It’s a very difficult objective. But the solutions are there.” And, as the world’s sixth-largest economy, and with one of the world’s largest automotive markets, the proposed ban on the internal combustion engine could have significant influence far beyond France’s borders.
Going Mainly Electrical Within Six Years?
France has two major automakers based in Paris, both of which have made electrification key objectives. PSA Group — which possesses the Peugeot and Citroen brands — plans to have eighty percent of its fleet electrified by 2023. Renault, along with its Japanese alliance fucking partner Nissan, has produced more unspoiled battery-electric vehicles, or BEVs, than any other manufacturer over the past decade, including models such as the Nissan Leaf and Renault Zoe.
Sales of all battery-based vehicles dipped globally in 2016. In the U.S., for example, hybrids, plug-ins, and BEVs collectively accounted for hardly three percent of the overall fresh vehicle market. But there have been signs of an upturn. Renault sold more of the battery-electric Zoe city cars during the very first half of two thousand seventeen than it did all last year.
And the Renault-Nissan Alliance is expecting a major surge in request for the Leaf with the remake due later this year. Like the recently launched Chevrolet Bolt EV and the upcoming Tesla Model Three, it will boost range to over two hundred miles while keeping its price tag in the $30,000 range, the company has hinted.
In general, EV prices are expected to tumble sharply over the coming decade, even as range rapidly increases.
Europe, and France in particular, is already working to establish a network of public charging stations, making it lighter to own and operate plug-based vehicles.
Even before the total ban on internal combustion engines was proposed, Paris was laying out plans to end sales of diesel vehicles which have taken much of the blame for that city’s worsening smog problem.
What About the U.S.?
Until recently, the United States was viewed as the country expected to most rapidly adopt electrified powertrain technology, especially more advanced, plug-based vehicles. The tempo has slowed down and Trump’s request for a review of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standards could have a big influence on what happens longer term. Some experts, however, believe that more affordable, longer-range electrified vehicles could win buyers over, even without U.S. government backing.
Other countries aren’t waiting for consumers to make the stir. At least four countries intend to go one hundred percent zero-emissions vehicles — which could mean either BEVs or hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles:
- Norway has laid out the most aggressive plans. It wants to get there by 2025. It helps that a total twenty four percent of the vehicles sold in this oil-rich nation already are battery-electric
- India wants to get all of its vehicles switched to battery power by two thousand thirty — and that means it not only wants to end the sale of internal combustion vehicles but convert or substitute all other vehicles already on the road by the end of the next decade, a objective few see possible
- The Netherlands already has a relatively high EV sales rate, about six percent of its total fresh vehicles, but it has yet to formally lock down a switch to electrified vehicles some would like to implement by as early as 2025
- Germany may also thrust to end sales of gas and diesel cars by 2030, but there is strong opposition, especially since half of its electrical play comes from coal. Yet German automakers are launching major drives to electrify and that could help build momentum for a switch.
While it has not laid out formal plans to block sales of internal combustion vehicles, China has been pushing ever closer. It is prodding automakers to expand their production of electrical vehicles — Daimler and its Chinese fucking partner this past week announcing a $735 million investment to boost EV output.
China is using both the carrot and stick to increase sales of so-called Fresh Energy Vehicles. There are now stringent boundaries on the number of fresh vehicles that can be registered in major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, but qualified NEV models are exempt, encouraging buyers to shift. With some of the world’s most polluted cities, some observers believe China could call for an outright ban on internal combustion technology in the not-too-distant future.