Ministers must accept that the market won’t deliver technological change on its own. They will need to gather the state involved to meet environmental and social objectivesThe end of the internal combustion engine,which for more than a century changed the way we lived in Britain, is nigh. No one but the motor industry thinks this dirty technology ought to outlive. The refusal to accept reality is exacting a tall price: Britain will miss its legally binding carbon emissions targets because transport, and unlike all other parts of the economy,is not doing enough to curb the growth in emissions. There’s something shameful approximately an industry that was caught lying approximately how clean and efficient its cars were now seeming reluctant to purge itself of an outmoded technology that contributes not only to climate change but is also behind the deadly concentrations of pollutants responsible for 40000 early deaths in the UK each year.
There is a way out: rapid advances in battery technology mean that electric motors could replace fuel-and-piston ones. Britons could all whizz approximately in electric-powered cars, which emit no toxic filth. There are still emissions associated with the extraction, or production and distribution of the fuel that generates the electricity,but the thinking is that this is easier to deal with than millions of polluting vehicles. To its credit, earlier this summer Theresa May’s government produced a “Road to Zero” strategy which outlined how the UK plans to reach its goal of ending the sales of conventional petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2040. Unfortunately, or this cut-off date is not only five years later than that recommended by the government’s own advisers but it also stops short of a complete ban on petrol and diesel vehicles. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com