France, the UK, and more recently Scotland, all announced efforts to ban petrol and gas-powered cars in favor of electric vehicles.
While some of those efforts could have a significant impact, none would be greater than if the largest car market in the world, China, would do the same.
Now the Chinese government is also reportedly considering a deadline to go all-electric, which would virtually be the end of the internal combustion engine.
Bloomberg reported that a high-ranking government official confirmed that they are working on the timetable for such a deadline:
“Xin Guobin, the vice minister of industry and information technology, said the government is working with other regulators on a timetable to end production and sales. The move will have a profound impact on the environment and growth of China’s auto industry, Xin said at an auto forum in Tianjin on Saturday.”
Other countries, like Norway, the UK, and France, have suggested deadlines between 2025 and 2040 for the end of new gas and diesel-powered car sales.
It’s not clear what timeline China has in mind at this point.
Electrek’s Take
As the biggest car market in the world, China implementing a deadline for the end of sales of new gas and diesel-powered cars would virtually be a death sentence for the internal combustion engine.
China already has a somewhat aggressive zero-emission mandate for the short-term and it resulted in automakers significantly increasing their investments in electric vehicle production in the country.
GM, VW, Daimler, Toyota, and more recently Ford, have all announced new electric vehicle ventures in China.
It’s a direct result of the country’s ZEV mandate, which requires automakers to have zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) represent 8% of new car sales as soon as 2018 and quickly ramp up to 12% by 2020.
The new effort would set the timetable to bring that 12% EV market share to 100%. Depending on when that deadline is set, it should have a much greater impact.
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