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World gears up for electric cars despite bumps in road
By James PHEBY
London (AFP) July 26, 2017


UK to ban sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2040: report
London (AFP) July 26, 2017 - Britain will outlaw the sale of new diesel and petrol cars and vans from 2040 in a bid to cut air pollution, the government was set to announce later Wednesday.

Enviroment minister Michael Gove is due to present the government's keenly-awaited �3 billion ($3.9 billion, 3.4 billion euro) air pollution plan, which is expected to demand that councils propose measures by March next year to reduce nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels, according to British media reports.

The ban on petrol and diesel cars as well as vans follows a similar proposal by the French government, and will also include hybrid vehicles that have an electric motor and a petrol or diesel engine.

Britain's High Court demanded that the government produce plans to tackle illegal NO2 pollution, largely caused by diesel emissions, and a draft report was published in May, but the full report was delayed by last month's snap general election.

The government will provide local councils with �255 million to bring NO2 levels to legal levels, with possible solutions including the removal of speed humps, reprogramming traffic lights and changing road layouts.

Campaigners want cities to impose entry fees on diesel drivers, but councils will only be allowed to do so if no other measures are available, with ministers wary of "punishing" drivers of cars who bought their vehicles in good faith, according to the reports.

"Diesel drivers are not to blame and, to help them switch to cleaner vehicles, the government will consult on a targeted scrappage scheme, one of a number of measures to support motorists affected by local plans," said a government spokesman.

ClientEarth, the campaign group that brought the case, arguing that a previous set of plans were insufficient to meet EU pollution limits, warned that health issues "caused by exposure to illegal air pollution are happening now, so we need urgent action."

Air pollution contributes to the death of more than 40,000 people per year in Britain, according to official figures, with nitrogen dioxide a particular problem.

Technological advances mean fossil fuel in cars could be phased out within decades but switching to electric carries its own environmental and economic concerns as more and more countries announce radical plans.

Britain on Wednesday said it would "end the sale of all conventional petrol and diesel cars" by 2040, following similar proposals by France earlier this month to reduce nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution.

China issued plans last year requiring that 12 percent of cars sold be battery-powered or plug-in hybrids by 2020, while India has said it wants to replace all vehicles with electric vehicles by 2030.

Norway hopes to end sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2025, and other countries such as Sweden and Denmark and Finland have expressed similar ambitions to phase out fossil fuel engines.

"Given the rate of improvement in battery and electric vehicle technology over the last ten years, by 2040 small combustion engines in private cars could well have disappeared without any government intervention," said Alastair Lewis, professor of atmospheric chemistry at the University of York.

"Nonetheless this is highly symbolic since it signals to both the public and to manufacturers that there is no turning back from electrification," he added.

Stefan Bratzel, director of the Center of Automotive Management (CAM), said that last year proved to be a "tipping point", shifting political will into concrete commitments.

He highlighted the emissions scandal, where manufacturers of mainly diesel cars were found to have cheated on environmental tests.

Local and national environmental targets and the progress made by China in developing electric cars are also forces propelling the move away from hydrocarbons.

- A 'bold bet' -

But Flavien Neuvy, economist at French automobile anlaysts Observatoire Cetelem, said it would be a "bold bet" to suggest that the roads will be filled with only electric cars by 2040.

"To say that we forbid combustion engines in 2040 assumes that we already know which will be the most efficient technology in 2040," he told AFP.

"It's a bold bet because the combustion engine, from an environmental point of view, may become more favourable, as can be seen with cars that can now travel 100km on 2 litres of fuel".

He also believes that the electric car "will be much more efficient than today", and that an improvement from the current average range of 250-300km to 400-500km would be "enough" to make them viable.

"But in reality, there are many other fuels, such as gas, hydrogen, and manufacturers are investing heavily in the self-drive car," he added.

Cost is also an issue, with electric cars currently selling for thousands of dollars more than their fossil-fueled counterparts.

The fashion for diesel cars in Britain was fueled by government incentives to reduce carbon emissions, but only worsened NO2 levels on a more local level.

- Infrastructure overhaul -

A switch to electric cars could also have negative environmental side effects, according to the experts.

Neuvy questioned how the extra electricity would be produced, whether there were enough resources to produce electric batteries, how many charging points would be needed and how the cars would be recycled.

Britain currently has around 4,500 public charging points, catering for around 110,000 plug-in cars currently on the streets out of a total of 36.7 million vehicles registered in Britain.

A study last month by IVL, the Swedish Environment Institute, found that production of a large battery currently results in the emission of up to 17.5 tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to around 700 hours of driving in a standard car.

Another stumbling block could be the vast infrastructure costs associated with providing recharge points on public highways, although Britain's plan promises to install charge points at motorway service areas and large fuel retailers.

British car manufacturing lobby group the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) also warned that an outright ban "risked undermining the current market for new cars", pointing out that the sector employed 800,000 workers.

But for now, the momentum appears to be strong, particularly if oil prices rise again.

CAM predicts that new registrations of electric cars in the world will increase by between 2.5 and 6 percent by 2020. "A big offensive by manufacturers" would then lead to a 40 percent increase by 2030.

CAR TECH
Volkswagen fined $154 mn more in US for dieselgate
New York (AFP) July 20, 2017
Volkswagen must pay an additional $154 million to California to settle state environmental charges in the latest penalty in the scandal over its use of emissions "defeat devices," regulators announced Thursday. The sum is on top of $533 million VW already paid to California in the so-called dieselgate conspiracy, in which software allowed cars to pass emissions tests, while still spewing ni ... read more

Related Links
Car Technology at SpaceMart.com


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