UK joins France in ploy to ban fuel-powered vehicles by 2040

Britain announcing to go all-electric by 2040 may mark the beginning of the end for gasoline and diesel-reliant cars in the European market. This was according to a paper published by the British government, just weeks after France announced its goal to ban the sales of all carbon-emitting vehicles by the said same year. 

A 255 million-pound (almost P16.8 billion) fund is said to be allotted to help towns and cities for the implementation of their plan. This is in addition to the 2.7 billion-pound (P178 billion) budget that is allocated for the air quality plan. The said multi-billion-pound funded scheme seeks to ban conventional vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICE) only, and does not apply to hybrid cars.

In support to this and for the public, the British government said that consultation is part of the plan. This move will gather opinions and feedbacks from motorists, residents, and businesses that will be affected by the proposed scheme.

On the flip side, UK's Independent stated that Liberal Democrats are already pushing to end new diesel sales by 2025, driving critics to say that 2040 is a bit late of a plan. Even more, the plan is being peeled off as a cover-up for the lack of solutions in bringing the emission levels down.

With France and UK expressing their stand against carbon-emission, car manufacturers are also announcing their plans one-by-one to go all-electric. Volvo, who announced to cut production of ICEs starting 2019, was shortly followed by Nissan with their global electric taxi revolution.

The local automotive scene has also taken its first steps in supporting the campaign for electrification. In June, Philippines hosted the 1st ASEAN EV and Hybrid Summit while the local government also pushes for the Jeepney Modernization Program which seeks to replace all existing jeepneys with Euro 4-compliant engines.