Labour might relax the ban on the sale of new petrol cars that is scheduled to come into force in six years’ time, according to reports today. The government will reportedly allow hybrids to still be sold until 2035, on the grounds that they are proving far more popular with consumers than the entirely battery driven cars. In truth, this tinkering doesn’t really matter: government targets for electric vehicles are completely meaningless anyway.
By definition, it is impossible to know what technical breakthroughs may be made over the next few years
The 2030 ban already looks ambitious. The European Union is only aiming for 2035, with the German auto-makers putting on plenty of pressure to postpone it. We can all argue about whether that is the right decision or not. And yet there is also a far larger point that is often overlooked. All the shifting of the EV targets does is illustrate that they are completely hypothetical anyway.
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