Following reports that the UK Government is to bring forward a ban on the sale of new internal combustion engine (ICE) powered cars from 2040 to 2030;

David Leggett, Automotive Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view:

“Bringing forward the date for a ban on petrol and diesel cars to 2030 is a pretty big challenge for automotive companies in terms of the scale and speed of such a transition and associated costs.

“The technology itself is not cheap and many in the industry are concerned that take-up of fully electric new cars in the UK market – though rising – is still low at 5.5% share so far this year. Surveys of car buyers show interest in future electric car purchase tempered by concerns over high purchase prices, battery charging availability and battery performance.

“Norway, with a near 50% fully electric share of the overall car market, serves as an example of the necessary joined-up thinking needed to encourage electric car take-up. Besides purchase incentives and tax breaks, there are also numerous electric vehicle ownership benefits such as dedicated traffic lanes and cheap or free parking.

“We have a long way to go in Britain to get anywhere near where Norway is currently and millions more battery charging points are needed to meet a 2030 ICE cut-off.

“Companies and consumers alike will be looking for signs of a coherent and joined-up government strategy to enable such a huge demand shift on a tight timescale.”