UK Electric Fleets Coalition calls for 2030 diesel and petrol ban

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• Edward Handley - 15/07/2020 16:08

  The UK Electric Fleets Coalition want the Government to ban the sale of new ICE vehicles by 2030. Quite a worthy aim in itself but despite the rapid technological improvements in electric vehicles, it is still an aspirational demand, and one that seems to ignore a number of practical problems. Reading the list of members of the Coalition is interesting - lots of organisations that use vans as mobile tool boxes or for local stop-start delivery work where electric vehicles are very efficient and where range is not such a big issue. These organisations do not need a ban on new ICEs - they will rapidly electrify over the next 10 years because for their kind of work, electric is going to be cheaper, so they will convert for economic and business reasons, but they should not try to legislate for the operators who need greater range or who need to work in areas where rapid chargers are not going to be available like the highlands of Scotland or Snowdonia. Electrification may be great in the big metropolitan areas where these fleets are concentrated, but for a farmer on the Yorkshire Moors in February a flat battery can be life threatening. When the temperature drops rapidly so does the range, and you cannot carry a spare battery like a jerrycan of emergency diesel. One size does not always fit all!

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• Paul Gauntlett - 17/07/2020 15:51

  EV's - Just One Part of the Sustainability Journey I am a huge advocate of Electric Vehicles and sustainability more widely. As an industry we have created great awareness that EV's are an important thing we should be doing to cut carbon emissions and be more sustainable. I'm both proud of our customers and the actions we have taken to support them. However the reality is that Electric Cars & Vans are just one of several actions we need to take as citizens in order to rebalance. Its a great step forward to have an electric car but if we still have ancient diesel trains, inefficient gas and oil fired central heating systems, poor insulation, inadequate recycling facilities.... I'm really pleased that we already see a situation with cars that for many it is both practical and cost effective to make the switch now (no need to wait to 2030) and huge numbers of companies are already making great progress / the switch - as evidenced by the SMMT registration figures. Whilst an Electric vehicle for some-one with a private drive (and thus the ability to charge at home) or Vans operating from Depots is already practical now, even I remain less convinced that a blanket ban is going to be entirely practical (especially now hybrid technology is also included). I say this as unless a quantum leap is made in terms of battery technology / speed of charging / fast charge network and crucially on street charging infrastructure EV's still are a way off being practical for all. One thing we can be sure of - by 2030 every car and van driver wont suddenly wake up living in a property with a private drive. Thus we should continue to work hard to help companies make the transition to EV's and continue to promote how practical they are for soo many. With the development of technology, roll out infrastructure and the fiscal incentives the government has in place we will continue to see progress - I see us getting to 75% / 80% EV relatively easily. However as some-one interested in sustainability holistically I'd rather we did not encourage the longer running and inflating the market in old vehicles that a blanket ban might create but rather increase our focus on other ways we can make our environment more sustainable - a more balanced approach.

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