When should existing fuel cars go off the road?
It’s sad, but it’s coming. There will come a time when combustion engine production will stop altogether, at least for Europe. Fortunately, that does not automatically mean that the gas stations close their doors. But until when can you actually drive on petrol? And will there be a ban on petrol cars at all? Although production will certainly come to an end, the extinction of the gasoline engine is not so certain yet.
No new fuel engines in 2035
This is no longer news. The EU wants no new fuel cars to be sold by 2035. Used petrol cars are of course still allowed. Several countries, including the Netherlands, would prefer to stop the sale of fuel engines by 2030. And some car brands, including Jaguar, Land Rover and Alfa Romeo, have set themselves the goal of switching to electricity earlier.
Until when can you drive on petrol?
‘It is impossible to predict how long you can drive in a petrol or diesel car. This also applies to cars that run on LPG. In any case, the national government does not want to emit any CO2 at all by 2050’, reports the national government. The EU also wants climate neutral are in 2050. Many people see this as a total ban on the internal combustion engine. In that case, from 2050 you would have to take your petrol car to the scrap heap.
A ban on all petrol engines by 2050 – is that the case?
It’s a bit more nuanced. CO2-neutral does not mean that you cannot drive on petrol. Porsche and some other car brands are working on so-called eFuels. These synthetic fuels are CO2-neutral below the line and can be used in existing petrol cars. Several brands already had petrol engines run on hydrogen. And 2050 is still a long way off. Who knows, there may be other ways to run on fuel without harming the polar bears.
Does it matter if your petrol car is banned?
The message that you are suddenly no longer allowed on the road with your current car, that just sounds downright annoying. However, keep in mind that a car that is new now will be as old as a Mercedes 190E is by then. A car that is now ten years old is just as old as a Volkswagen Golf I. The chance that you will still be driving your current car in 2050 is not very great. The youngest petrol car will be 15 years old at that time. The question is whether people will still get a petrol car in 2035 if they know that it can only be used until 2050.
Over the next 30 years, electric cars will become cheaper, the range will grow and fuel will probably become more expensive. This means that there will come a time when it is more attractive to buy or lease an electric car. Counter-arguments will diminish more and more (also for the people who are strongly against it now) and a ban in 2050 may not even be necessary anymore, because everyone already drives electrically.
Okay, it does matter: as a hobby
For the people who are now reading with boiling blood and are about to threaten to ‘unfollow’ on Facebook; we have not fallen from our faith. At TopGear we love the petrol engine, you know that. And with us many millions of other gas sniffers on this globe. We therefore hope that there will never be a total ban on the petrol engine. In 2050, we like to take the V8 out at the weekends to take a nice tour with eFuels, or a round of Nürburgring with the six-in-line.
There are currently more than a billion cars on the planet. They won’t suddenly disappear. For the daily mileage, you will probably end up in an electric car eventually, although that will take some time for most. For now, no one is stopping you from keeping a petrol car as a weekend toy and DIY object. Fortunately, because no longer swearing up to your elbows covered in grease, that would be a loss.
