A UK ban on hybrid cars could be brought forward to help the Conservative Party recover its slipping climate credentials.
The history of the vehicle class has been mired in u-turns. First, Britons were incentivised to go hybrid with enticing grants and subsidies. The government also spent millions on a campaign to promote the eco benefits of hybrid cars. Then, just a few years and around 400,000 hybrid car sales later, Boris Johnson announced that the vehicles would be banned from 2035. Tories, who were tying themselves closer and closer to the pursuit of ‘net zero,’ saw hybrid cars as green, but not green enough. The decision was described at the time as “a kick in the face for those people who thought they were doing a good thing” but now find themselves worrying about depreciating resale values.
It now looks likely that current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will move to outdo Mr. Johnson, especially after it was discovered that popular hybrid cars emit significantly more carbon dioxide than official measures lead consumers to believe (up to 70% more in some cases).
Chris Stark, chief executive of the Climate Change Committee (CCC), said ministers would be wise to “bring forward as much as it can the date that we phase out hybrid vehicles.”
Mr. Sunak could be egged on by the verdict of the Climate Change Committee (CCC), which this week said “the UK has lost its clear global leadership position on climate action.” The advisory group was primarily pointing its finger at new fossil fuel commitments, but rolling these back would be far more complicated than simply bringing forward the banning of hybrid cars.
A good number of businesses in and around the car industry are also likely to push for an earlier ban, given the benefits this would allow them to reap. In a 2020 consultation on the future of petrol, diesel and hybrid cars and vans, the “majority” of charge point operators—who would profit from an increase in more fully-electric cars on the road—said they were supportive of an earlier phaseout date than 2035. The CCC also said at the time that hybrids should be banned “no later than 2032, if we are to meet net zero.”
Consumers (only 1,305 of which responded to the consultation) were, however, “of the view that the public did not have sufficient confidence in the public charging network or the current technology offer.” They added that “the relative difficulty of transitioning for different types of consumers should be considered.”
Not that their concerns were likely to be heeded, anyway, given that the government appeared to have already made up its mind, noting in its response to the consultation:
While recognising that there remain several challenges to address, we take the view that transitioning the new car and van market to ZEVs [zero-emissions vehicles] is vital if we are to meet our statutory commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and end our contribution to climate change.
The possibility of bringing forward the hybrid ban is not, however, without its critics. Responding to the suggestion, Tory Baroness Foster said that “this push to meet ‘net zero’ targets is insane! It won’t affect the high earners but will affect everyone else.”
