MikeT wrote: ↑26 Jul 2017, 08:51
It's a ban on
new ICE cars and vans. It won't be a cull on all cars and vans.
And may cause a paradoxical inflation of 2nd hand prices - if you can't buy a petrol car new but you
really need one for some reason (you drive 600 miles a day ?
) then you'll be forced to buy a well looked after low mileage second hand one for a high price!
Personally I don't think it will be necessary or even appropriate to have a complete ban - let market forces work and let technology improve to the point where an EV is the obvious choice for the majority on its own merits, not the government mandated choice...
The technology is not quite there yet (range, charging time, purchase cost are still hindering factors) but at the current rate of progress those will be solved before any far away 2040 "bans" come into effect.
It's easy for the government of today to promise a ban 23 years from now (by which time they will long be voted out) but it doesn't really do anything. Better that they do smaller, shorter term things, like helping with charging infrastructure, and changes to VED - which they're already doing. I see really long term proclamations like this as hot air, really. It's like saying "In 10 years from now I'm going to quit smoking. Cold turkey! Honest!"