Denmark would set a 2030 deadline to phase out sales of new petrol and diesel cars, and pull the plug on new hybrid vehicles in 2035, under a proposal that was to be presented to the national parliament this week.
“It is a big ambition that will be hard to achieve,” Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told legislators last week. “But that’s exactly why we need to try.”
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The country “has previously come under fire for increasing tax on electric cars in 2016, sending sales down from more than 3% of all new cars to almost zero, but now aims to follow the example being set in an increasing number of countries,” Reuters reports. “Denmark, the cradle of wind power, aims to become fossil fuel-free by 2050.”
The news agency notes that looming petrol and diesel bans in several countries “could hit the wealth of oil producers and transform a car industry in which global carmakers are scrambling to adapt to the brave new world of electric vehicles.” The article lists Britain and France committing to bans in 2040, Norway setting records with EVs and hybrids accounting for more than 50% of new vehicles today, and Paris, Madrid, Mexico City, and Athens planning to prohibit diesel engines in city centres by 2025.
