Incentives rewarding consumers moving away from petrol and diesel cars has called signalled by the Minister for Transport. Image: Audi Has Donald Trump given impetus to the climate change deniers to start pushing back? Certainly, lawmakers in Europe are much more open than they would have been a year ago in wanting to roll back their plans to ban all new internal combustion engines by 2035.
The ban has already been postponed by five years, as Europe and its carmakers realise that if they are to go full electric, then it will be China – whose products are generally more innovative, better made and cheaper – which will be the big beneficiary. A China, incidentally, whose factories emit most CO2 into the global atmosphere. Electric vehicles (EVs) are losing their appeal in Europe because the convenience of using them is still a long way from that of conventional vehicles.
More people are also becoming aware of the huge lifetime environmental costs they bring, effectively almost nullifying the benefits of their zero emissions. EVs and their attendant networks are also gobbling up massive amounts of copper and rare earth minerals, whose mining and production processes not only adversely affect natural resources but human populations, too. It will be interesting to watch the EV space to see whether they will, or even can, replace fossil-fuelled machines. READ NEXT:BMW names new CEO to steer car giant in tough times
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