UK to ban the sale of new diesel trucks by 2040

13 July 2021

11:30

The UK is set to ban the sale of new diesel trucks by 2040 as part of its transport decarbonisation efforts as continues towards its climate goals.

The government has already revealed a ban to diesel and petrol-powered cars by 2030. Credit: Pillip / Shutterstock

This new bill is set to be announced on July 14 and comes several months after the UK's pledge to ban the sale of all diesel and petrol-powered cars by 2030 and a later vow to begin a phase-out of hybrid vehicles by 2035.

Should all go to plan, the bill, which has not yet been signed off by ministers, should be published on the same day as the European Union's blueprints for its net-zero future as it looks to reduce outgoing carbon emissions by 55% of 1990 levels by 2030, according to a report by the FT.

Many UK-based automakers are looking to increase domestic production of semiconductors and batteries in order to meet the increasing demand for electric vehicles as markets phase out traditional combustion engines and make their supply chains more robust, reducing reliance on predominantly East Asian chipmakers which continues to falter.

Automakers - such as Nissan, who recently said it would be converting its Sunderland plant into a battery gigafactory - will also be looking to battery production as a way of bouncing back from the combined losses from the semiconductor shortage and the Covid-19 pandemic as well as meeting the requirements of the post-Brexit trade deal, which stipulated that UK and EU-based companies must source their chips from within the bloc or face heavy fines.

While the UK's domestic car production has surpassed pre-pandemic levels, overall car production still remains sluggish.

The government is also drafting a mandate for UK-based automakers that will mean a minimum proportion of annual production must be electric vehicles.

Automakers are still bound by the EU law requiring all vehicles to meet minimum emissions standards, something which EU-based companies such as Volkswagen have been fined for in the past.

Under the new bill, smaller trucks may see phase-outs as early as 2035, while trucks weighing in at over 26 tonnes will be banned from 2040.

Also on the agenda is properly issuing road pricing - the generally unpopular means by which the government charges for road use, through taxes, tolls, congestion charges and distance and time-based fees - to recuperate the loss of revenue normally made up by carbon taxes, which will no longer be relevant without traditional combustion engines.

A number of the world's largest automakers, such as Audi, which has planned to phase out combustion engines by 2026, following in the footsteps of parent company Volkswagen, which has pledged to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel models by 2035.

Of the major truckmakers, at least six, including Daimler, Volvo and Scania, have pledged to diesel bans by 2040, despite warnings from UK hauliers about the technology required for long-haul trucking without traditional engines to currently existing.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also revealed he wishes to make the UK a "global leader" in the fields of science, green technology and tackling climate change, which forms part of the recent trade deal with Australia, despite criticisms over certain parts of the deal, including food standards.

This deal comes following the UK's application to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership as it looks for trade partners in the wake of its withdrawal from the European Union on January 1 this year.

In recent months, the UK has also become something of a hub for self-driving cars, with Project Endeavour trialling autonomous vehicles in Birmingham after successful trials in Oxford and the integration of a 5G network in Milton Keynes that could stand to power all kinds of vehicle-based technologies, including driverless cars and delivery robots.

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