Recently, the European Parliament approved a ban on diesel and petrol cars from 2035. While the stated goal of reducing emissions is admirable, the ban is the wrong way to go, and can cause backlash against the transition.
For decades, proponents of electric vehicles (EV) have promised that these cars are soon to become affordable. Recent data, however, shows that the price of an EV is rising fast, and nothing today indicates that the EV-internal combustion engine (ICE) car price gap will close, and certainly not in time for the 2035 deadline.
On the opposite, the International Energy Agency has warned that higher prices of lithium that are, in turn, caused by the increased demand from EVs will make EV batteries more expensive. Banning ICE cars will inflate the demand for EVs and, thus, for lithium, making both even more expensive.
So, most consumers looking to buy a car after 2035 will have to turn to the second-hand market, where ICE cars will still be allowed to be sold. Over time, with no new ICE cars produced and EVs remaining unaffordable, the car fleet will inevitably grow older. Given that emissions increase as cars age, not allowing consumers to replace their old cars with new ones may actually serve to increase emissions.
From ‘Why the 2035 Combustion Engine Ban is the Wrong Way to Go’, Euractiv
