The ICE

[Simon]

So they're gonna bring the date to ban ICE cars forward to 2035, and for clarity that now includes hybrids too.

And they say they're gonna bring it even earlier if possible.

Is this even feasible? Are we gonna see power cables strung out from flat windows to the street below? Certainly the charging network has a long way to go for people who can't charge at home.

[NotoriousREV]

2034: New law - No driveway or off-road parking space, no car.

[duncs500]

2034: New law - No driveway or off-road parking space, no car.

Well the roads would be quieter! Every cloud.

[Carlos]

Yep, I can't see how technology can develop quick enough to get ICE convenience in the next decade.

There's pretty much zero availability of motorcycles, quads, farming and commercial vehicles at this point. That's not going to change anytime soon.

[Broccers]

What's the current deal on the age of tax exempt cars? Ie how old do they need to be.

[Gwaredd]

It's a Government plan at this stage, so it won't happen. Look how well the Brexit plan went

[Swervin_Mervin]

There are a fair few manufacturers outlining plans to be purely EV long before then. So I imagine that yes, it will be fairly easy.

[Simon]

There are a fair few manufacturers outlining plans to be purely EV long before then. So I imagine that yes, it will be fairly easy.

Which ones have said they'll be pure EV by then? (other than just promising to have electric versions of all models)?

[JonathanE]

If you read the article, this isn't banning ICE cars. it's banning the sale of new ICE cars. Big difference!

Jonathan

[Swervin_Mervin]

There are a fair few manufacturers outlining plans to be purely EV long before then. So I imagine that yes, it will be fairly easy.

Which ones have said they'll be pure EV by then? (other than just promising to have electric versions of all models)?

Hands up I've misconstrued. I was thinking Honda and Volvo but their promises are to remove ICE only models within the next few years. Still, Volvo's targetting 50% pure EV sales by 2025. I think it will be a piece of p1ss to have no new ICE car sales by 2035. More's the point, I don't think we're far away from a time when consumer demand shifts significantly away from ICE anyway.

[Mito Man]

My prediction was true, I reckon it will be brought forward to 2030 though.
The real shitter will be when all combustion engines are banned including the old ones and that won’t be too much longer either.

[duncs500]

If you read the article, this isn't banning ICE cars. it's banning the sale of new ICE cars. Big difference!

Jonathan

How long after they stop selling them does it start getting harder to buy petrol though?

[Mito Man]

Yep petrolheads are hopeful that we will end up a bit like Cuba - full of classic cars but the UK wants to cut emissions to 0 so it’s not going to happen. Then there’s the really inconvenient stuff like turning off the gas taps and oil deliveries forcing home owners to fit electric boilers.

[Simon]

There are a fair few manufacturers outlining plans to be purely EV long before then. So I imagine that yes, it will be fairly easy.

Which ones have said they'll be pure EV by then? (other than just promising to have electric versions of all models)?

Hands up I've misconstrued. I was thinking Honda and Volvo but their promises are to remove ICE only models within the next few years. Still, Volvo's targetting 50% pure EV sales by 2025. I think it will be a piece of p1ss to have no new ICE car sales by 2035. More's the point, I don't think we're far away from a time when consumer demand shifts significantly away from ICE anyway.

I think a lot of consumer demand is because of tax incentives (no fuel tax on leccy). Government won't wave goodbye to all that fuel duty and it'll be replaced by road pricing which will level the playing field again.

[simon_g]

Just think where we were 10 years ago for EVs in the UK. You could buy a updated G-Whiz (50 miles tops, 8 hours to charge), or Tesla were about to offer the Roadster in RHD at £90k or so. There were no rapid charging stations. A few years later you could buy a Leaf or Zoe and carefully hop between the minimal rapid charging infrastructure.

There are now more than 7000 rapid connectors in over 2000 locations (it's over 30k connectors/10k locations if you include non-rapid). Just taking battery only EVs there were nearly 38k of them sold last year. There are several options for 200+ mile range cars comfortably under £40k and getting cheaper. You can buy a good, >140 mile range car right now for under £25k new.

Where do you think we'll be in 15 years? It took less time than that to build the National Grid and electrify much of the country in the first place.

[Beany]

Any major improvements in range and performance will require a step change in battery tech, and there's only so much energy you can get out of anything that isn't very explody - so I'm taking any massive range improvement expectations with a major grain of salt for now.

[integrale_evo]

Yep, we seem to be a bit stuck again at the moment.

I wonder how long before sales start to drop off again unless there's a major change in the technology. Plenty of options for those who can work around the current disadvantages but what happens when all those that want one already have one?

I'll have one when I can buy a secondhand one for £5k which still has a real world 300mile range

[Rich B]

From the limited info I have it sounds like the best way to speed things up would be to standardise infrastructure - Plugs/chargers/etc... it’s fine quoting the number of charging points, but if your car can only work on a percentage of them then the number is pretty meaningless.

[RobYob]

From the limited info I have it sounds like the best way to speed things up would be to standardise infrastructure - Plugs/chargers/etc... it’s fine quoting the number of charging points, but if your car can only work on a percentage of them then the number is pretty meaningless.

Absolutely this, the faff that Harry M had while wanted to recharge the iPace in his video has to be squashed and probably enforced by law.

As for ICE, I imagine petrol stations will continue to have one or two pumps for a long time in addition to charging (although home/mall/retail park charging may be the death of many stations)

Once classic cars become as niche a hobby as horses you'll probably have to resort to your local stable for a supply of juice. Maybe they'll be able to homebrew E95 efficiently by then.

[Swervin_Mervin]

I'd expect to see a ramp up in the roll out of rapid chargers at existing fossil fuel stations next. And I'm not so sure that demand is largely driven by tax incentives. EVs are increasingly desirable to most folks, and that's before the next generation of drivers matures who'll have grown up with mainstream EV availability. ICE cars will become old hat very quickly.