The end is nigh! Death of the IC power.

[GD485]

2040 is the date set by the government to kill internal combustion engines as we know them.
Cars will become electrically powered and have a very low pollution as their main target and selling point..
I doubt that towing will feature in the marketing groups minds when planning for the future.
To survive caravans will have to weigh a fraction of their current figure.
Many jobs will be lost due to this change as electric cars will require far less servicing and no need for fuel distribution.
The near future will decide the demise of the caravan. As the diesel car will become less acceptable taxation and charges will be increased resulting less distance traveled and the need to optimise fuel consumption. The caravan will have to stay at home.
So enjoy your freedom and holidays in your caravan because it could soon be too expensive and unpopular to tow..

 

[Andy-H]

Feasibly you'll be looking at 2050 given that 2040 is for the production/sale, so you'll still be able to buy a new IC car in December 2039 and there'll still be used ones running around for years after 2040.
The ban is for diesel VEHICLES so this includes commercial vehicles; if they can develop an electric bus or HGV, i'm sure a towcar isn't too much of an ask. I have it on reasonable authority that VW will be making the next incarnation of the Transporter petrol only so the will is there.

 

[otherclive]

I think it will happen quicker than the Government's timeline. It's the car industry that is moving so quickly. Firstly the forecast for cars show petrols gaining ascendency with hybrids included by mid 2020s. Then the transition to all electric will really progress. In the interim lets not forget that before diesel became common place most of us towed quite happily with petrol cars. A Saab 9000 CSE with 225bhp made a great tow car, albeit not towing the heavier/low payload caravans that have been thrust upon us in recent years.

I fully agree with you about the risks to the caravan and associated leisure industry, but even without electric, cars have been getting lighter and the younger generation aren't so interested in driving as shown by recent figures on Driving Test applications. Their financial commitments too will affect their decisions. Perhaps we should all hold on to our outfits as by 2040 they will have attained classic status and may be worth a lot of money, providing the fuels to power them are still available for private purchase and not restricted to commercial operators.

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

Another 23 years to 2040, so in my case I will probably have given up driving by then. :lol:

 

[otherclive]

Another 23 years to 2040, so in my case I will probably have given up driving by then. :lol:

My dad is 95 and is still driving every day. I recently had to persuade him not to buy Kia as he was attracted by its 7 year warranty. There's optimism for you. He doesn't tow any longer, giving that up when he was in his mid-80's.

 

[otherclive]

Feasibly you'll be looking at 2050 given that 2040 is for the production/sale, so you'll still be able to buy a new IC car in December 2039 and there'll still be used ones running around for years after 2040.
The ban is for diesel VEHICLES so this includes commercial vehicles; if they can develop an electric bus or HGV, i'm sure a towcar isn't too much of an ask. I have it on reasonable authority that VW will be making the next incarnation of the Transporter petrol only so the will is there.

According to the "beeb" the Government plan to ban new diesel and petrol cars by 2040.

 

[GD485]

It might be 2030, 40 or 50 and by then it won't be a problem for me.
The social media population is keen to stay on trend so the negative image the Diesel is being burdened with is going to have significant effect. Who is going to buy a diesel car? Who is going to by a new car? There's a black cloud (of pollution) hanging over all IC cars now so the resale value will drop like a over heated brick!

 

[SteveW77]

So how much pollution will all these new power stations that will be needed produce? or will they all be nuclear, another unpopular fuel source.

 

[Gabsgrandad]

These 'electric' airplanes will need long 'leads' ! -- (I suppose it'll be an electric hearse for me?)

 

[GD485]

What's wrong with an elastic band power for planes!
But that might cause problems for those who have a latex allergy.
More pollution!

 

[Gabsgrandad]

Would caravanners ever protest? --- No! -- I reckon a protest convoy of all our touring caravans currently towed by ICE (internal combustion engines) circling the M25 would make a bit of a queue and make our so called representatives start thinking. -- Not something they are good at!

 

[DrZhivago]

Cars will become electrically powered .... I doubt that towing will feature in the marketing groups minds when planning for the future. To survive caravans will have to weigh a fraction of their current figure. The caravan will have to stay at home. ..

Nonsense. There will always be a market for strong and capacious vehicles. Even if IC engines are banned there will be electric equivalents to these, even if they are for a minority market (as they are now) when most cars have become one-person-family commuter bubbles by 2040, IAW sociological trends.

Where I live in the country half the vehicles around, including mine, are some kind of heavy 4x4 - farmers' Land Rover Defenders towing livestock trailers, Toyota Tacoma pick-up trucks with bales of hay in the back, Forestry Commission Isuzo double cabs, Range Rovers pulling horse boxes .. do you think this market will go away? There will always be vehicles capable of towing caravans, electric or not, though perhaps not in the future the medium family car type of tow car as we often see now.

 

[GD485]

I don't know what the plans are for commercial vehicles and the same goes for plant equipment, boats, trains and aircraft.
In my option I don't think the government is any better informed.
This could be another CO2 problem that was solved by a rush to diesel.
Always the people in charge tend to follow the latest trend mainly because the average MP doesn't have a science background. Long gone are the ex-miner, train driver or doctor MP mixed with the university generated politicians.

 

[GD485]

Hi gabsgrandad

A mass meeting of like minded people to protest against some unpopular policy?
We must be of the same age group when students kicked up a fuss and trade unions were looked upon as useful way for workers to get their cause noted.
However, today, a blockade of the M25 would be seen as obstructing the public rather than a protest.
Anyway would anyone notice that M25 is at a standstill. Its know as the London orbital car park!!

 

[DrZhivago]

Always the people in charge tend to follow the latest trend mainly because the average MP doesn't have a science background. Long gone are the ex-miner, train driver or doctor MP mixed with the university generated politicians.

Ex-miners and train drivers have science backgrounds? The university is not the problem, it's what they study. PPE mostly. There was a time (c1980?) when only one MP was known to have a science degree - Mrs T, and she hated science anyway.

It is rather silly for a government to declare what will happen in 23 years time. Who knows what other factors could occur before then? It's not as if we have a British motor industry that needs to be forewarned and the likes of Toyota BMW and Peugeot won't take any notice one way or the other - they will all be offering a wide range of EVs by then anyway, if cars are still the thing.

But these sound bites sound good to the hipsters, don't they?

 

[Woodentop]

As one contributor has already said, where will all the electricity come from?

Someone on BBC News has just said there are 5000 charging points in the UK and 8500 fuel stations? Spot the catch? Fill up at a fuel station - say 15 minutes tops: charge up a car enough to go say 20 miles - 4 hours?

 

[KeefySher]

I don't know what the plans are for commercial vehicles and the same goes for plant equipment, boats, trains and aircraft.
In my option I don't think the government is any better informed.
This could be another CO2 problem that was solved by a rush to diesel.
Always the people in charge tend to follow the latest trend mainly because the average MP doesn't have a science background. Long gone are the ex-miner, train driver or doctor MP mixed with the university generated politicians.

Oh the rusty irony The last Transport Secretary, Patrick McGloughlin, was a miner in his early working life.

 

[SamandRose]

This is nothing more nor less than a fairly crude attempt by the government to grab headlines and be seen to be adhering to the recent EU directive to reduce carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions, whilst in reality doing nothing at all.

If by 2040 the motor industry has come up with a battery (or hydrogen fuel cell, or other fuel source) capable of powering large vans, lorries, buses, farm vehicles etc then a car capable of towing a heavy caravan or trailer will be no issue. And if they haven't it will simply be impossible to implement the legislation. But what is certain is that by that time, all of the current government will be either dead or retired on their massive pensions and it will be someone else's problem to announce that they need to do a U turn.

 

[Dustydog]

What will replace all the lost fuel revenues the Government gets from us hmy:

 

[GD485]

Hi Keeysher

As a miner he is very unusual in modern parliament.
I stand corrected.

 

[GD485]

Hi Dustydog

Don't worry about that I'm sure the government can come up with a way of taxing EV's.
They have been very creative in the past with things like window tax, Corn laws and the really successful poll tax!!

 

[GD485]

Hi Woodentop

Maybe lots more wind turbines and solar PV.
If Trump get his way and brings back gas guzzling Yank tanks then all the global warming should give us enough extra sunlight to power all our super green cars.

 

[SamandRose]

What will replace all the lost fuel revenues the Government gets from us hmy:

Taxation on electricity, I expect.

 

[KeefySher]

Hi Keeysher

As a miner he is very unusual in modern parliament.
I stand corrected.

No worries.

There are very few MP's with STEM (Science Technology Engineering Maths) background. As Maths underpins the others, it's further rusty irony that most, if not all MP's cannot do simple sums. I've oft argued the M should be changed to Manufacture, as the input to the former 3 is maths, the output is something tangible and likely physical in form. But that's beyond most MP's snouts in the trough

 

[camel]

I can just see Caroline Lucas and her co-leader Jonothan Bartley of the Green Party dancing round the Maypole on Brighton front now that this news broke today, I just hope the little Pixie will now disappear to never never land,