Hello and welcome to your daily ChargeSmart blog! Today, we will talk about the UK bringing their ICE ban forward and what that means for car manufacturers and customers.
It was a piece of news that had car manufacturers looking like Tom Hanks during Ricky Gervais’ Golden Globes speech. Very unhappy in other words.
The government made the decision to bring forward their ban on the sale of ICE cars to 2035, remember that’s only 15 years away! The ban was originally scheduled to be implemented in 2040 but the PM Boris Johnson made the decision to move it forward by 5 years. By the way, this ban includes not only petrol and diesel cars but also hybrids. They too have ICE engines after all, also this is some bad news for Honda who are pinning their future on hybrid technology. Boris stated that the world had to deal with its carbon emissions and act now for the future of the planet, species and so on.
Above: What could this mean for Honda who say Hybrids are the way forward
The nation’s automaker’s association or SMMT in other words was rather unhappy with the verdict. They didn’t hold back on condemning the government who they thought was wrong to announce the change without pledging any government support to help the UK’s auto industry. An industry, that’s still reeling from the impact of the uncertainty surrounding Brexit over the last few years. The CEO of the SMMT further voiced his disapproval by saying that the government should find a way to secure all the jobs and the industry in general that revolves around automotive manufacturing in the UK.
Above: Toyota have already voiced their unhappiness about the decision
Toyota who were one of the late adopters of EVs have already said that they are in discussion with the British government over this ban. The Executive VP said that they were not a fan of the government’s decision to suddenly bring the ban forward, they suggested that the government approach the ban step by step. Allowing car manufacturers enough of time to make the required changes. Toyota have a car manufacturing plant in England and an engine factory in Wales, the English factory makes up about 8% of the cars made in Britain every year.
However, a company like Jaguar Land Rover stand to benefit from this decision as they already have access to locally made electric cells for their EVs. Car makers are also angry over one of Johnson’s unfulfilled promises where he said he would help establish a Gigafactory in the UK for battery manufacturing but such a statement is yet to materialise.
The UK is Europe’s second largest market and has seen a significant rise in the number of EV sales over the past few years, EVs now make up around 10% of the market but that still looks like a small figure compared to the 90% domination of ICE vehicles. We’ve already seen the UK’s moves to enforce congestion charges, clamp down on ICE-ing which we covered last time and provide rebates for EV buyers. They have also committed around $5 million NZD towards installing 1,000 new chargers as well.
Above: Arrival are a British EV start-up already making EV vans for UPS
There’s still 15 years to go until the ban comes in to place but the auto industry in so up in arms about this because of how long it takes to develop new cars and then the life cycles of the models as well which is usually around seven years on average. Carmakers need to decide now on what to invest in for the future, with some already committing to ICE and hybrids. The future doesn’t look too bright for some manufacturers like Honda but for a company like Volkswagen who have committed wholeheartedly to the EV movement, they could be in for a swansong.
France have also announced their intentions to ban the sale of ICE cars by 2040 but Norway have been a bit more drastic than that, their proposed ban is supposed to come into effect in 2025. It is a non-binding goal so they have a bit of a safety net because the period is so short.
With Tesla doubling volumes every 18 months I suspect that before 2035 there will be almost no dino burners being made anyway