Aston Martin CEO: UK Fossil Fuel Ban “Meaningless”
British performance carmaker Aston Martin’s chief sees his country taking a very unrealistic approach to dealing with air pollution.
The UK government’s July announcement that it will be banning the sale of petrol- and diesel-powered vehicles by 2040 is “meaningless” to Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer.
Government officials are certainly not automotive engineers and are missing the mark, he said.
“Policy makers should not try to be engineers,” Palmer said. His conclusion was that the July announcement banning fossil fuel vehicles by 2040 was “just spin” and doesn’t stand a chance of being achieved.
China is now becoming one of four countries joining the UK in stopping fossil-fuel powered vehicles on its roads, along with France and Norway. Xin Guobin, the country’s vice minister of industry and information technology, announced in a speech earlier this month that regulators are working on a timeline for phasing out the sales and production of the gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles.
Other countries central to the global auto market are considering heading toward an eventual phase-out of petroleum-powered cars through government incentives and mandates. It’s a big job – with about 695,000 of 84 million new vehicles sold last year being electric; and with about a billon gasoline and diesel vehicles out on roads across the world now.
These regulators are getting their wires crossed with national mandates, Palmer said.
“In my view as an engineer, it’s better to prescribe the emission, and then let the engineers figure out what the right technology is,” he said.
Palmer thinks the technology is already there with fuel efficient gasoline engine vehicles. He made reference to Formula 1 racers in development that can already double their previous fuel economy.
Hybrid vehicles can confuse the issue.
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