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NZ govt won't ban petrol, diesel

Posted on 27 July, 2017

The government won’t follow the UK’s lead in banning petrol and diesel-powered vehicles, said Transport Minister Simon Bridges. The UK, in a bid to tackle air pollution, announced that new diesel and petrol cars would be banned from sale from 2040 as part of a $5.2 billion clean air strategy. By 2050, all cars on British roads will need to have zero emissions. The strategy does not include a scrappage scheme, saying previous attempts were “poor value” for money. This follows similar bans around the world, including France (sales must end by 2040), India (2030) and Norway (2025). Bridges said yesterday that the current National government had no plans to ban the sale of combustion-powered vehicles, and instead would focus on incentivising drivers to switch to EVs and plug-in hybrids. "The Government has an ambitious electric vehicle programme with the aim to double the size of the electric vehicle fleet in New Zealand every year to reach 64,000 electric vehicles by 2021," he said in a statement. Bridges said a move from petrol and diesel vehicles to EVs was a “natural evolution”, and “it’s our aim to encourage that switch sooner, rather than later.”