Government Support Will Make Electrification a Reality in the Near Future

As the world’s population continues to explode to new records and as poverty is reduced more and more in newer places, more people want and can actually afford cars than in any other previous time in history. The international energy agency expects the number of vehicles in the world to more than double by 2060. While demand for aviation will more than triple by 2070. Government Support Will Make Electrification

All of these increases are going to dramatically increase the rate of global emissions and they simply aren’t compatible with international climate agreements. The most widespread of these agreements is the Paris climate accord that has been ratified by nearly every country in the world. It aims at preventing the world from heating beyond two degrees celsius over pre-industrial levels in the 19th century. Ideally the agreement would actually restrict heating to just one and a half degrees celsius over the era before the industrial revolution but we’ve already reached one degree warmer.

In order to limit the increase to just one and a half degrees, every country around the world has to make significant cuts to their emissions over the next decade. One of the most obvious ways to do that is by reducing the emissions from the transportation industry, and the most obvious way to do that is by getting more and more people to adopt electric vehicles or EVs.

You’ve maybe heard that EVs are just as polluting or even more so than conventional fossil fuel vehicles, but the simple fact is that that’s just wrong. It’s true that EVs produce more of a carbon footprint to actually create than fossil fuel vehicles do but in the long run they’re far more ecological.

Inevitably, Society and the future is headed towards electric vehicles and here’s why

Government Support Will Make Electrification a Reality in the Near Future

Government Initiatives for Future Electrification is currently in effect

Governments and countries around the world are making plans right now to completely change their societies into abandoning fossil fuel vehicles and making the switch to electrification in order to reduce their own emissions.

Here is a general timeline of these plans so far:

Several cities across the European Union already have some form of restrictions in place for petrol and diesel-powered vehicles. But the first national level restriction on the books that’ll go into effect is going to be in Norway where the country is presently planning on banning

the sale of all new diesel and petrol vehicles by 2025 – or in other words just four years from now, Currently, existing diesel and petrol vehicles will of course still be able to be driven, you just won’t be able to buy a newly manufactured one. The only new vehicles you’ll be allowed to buy are non-fossil fuel vehicles and it’s already begun to affect the country. Over 60 percent of new car purchases in Norway are already EVs which is the highest market share of any country in the world so far. But they’re far from the only place that’s planning on restricting the sale of fossil fuel vehicles in the future, they’re just the first.

Austria plans on limiting the registration of new taxis and ride shares to EVs only by 2027. By 2030. Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and India all have some kind of plan right now to join Norway in eliminating the sale of any newly produced non-electric vehicle. In addition Israel also has plans by 2030 to eliminate the importation of any newly produced petrol or diesel vehicles.

A whole host of cities plan on restricting the use of petrol and or diesel vehicles inside of them by 2030 as well including London, Bristol, Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Utrecht, the Hague , Copenhagen, Oslo, Heidelberg, Milan, Athens, Los Angeles, Seattle, Mexico City, Cape Town, Auckland and surely more to come by then.

By 2035 Japan is also planning on eliminating the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles. This will certainly end up having the most profound effect on the automotive industry yet as the Japanese automobile market is among the largest and most influential in the world with huge brands like Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Subaru, Mazda and others becoming highly affected by the policy. The United Kingdom is also intending on eliminating the sale of plug-in hybrid vehicles by this point as well.

Despite the transportation industry taking up 30% of all of America’s greenhouse gas emissions, the United States doesn’t currently have any plans at the federal level to eliminate new fossil fuel vehicle sales. But a few states do, both California and Massachusetts have so far made plans to eliminate new fossil fuel vehicle sales by this point as well as the Canadian province of Quebec and other states / provinces are likely to follow them.

By 2040 the entirety of Canada is expected to eliminate new fossil fuel vehicle sales, while the province of British Columbia is taking it a step further with plans to eliminate all existing fossil fuel vehicles by this point with plans to rely exclusively on EVs by then.

Egypt, France, Spain and Taiwan all have the same goal as Canada for ending new fossil fuel vehicle sales by 2040. While Sri Lanka and Singapore have the goal to completely eliminate all internal combustion engine vehicles from the country by the same year. New or used, New York City intends on converting all city-owned vehicles to EVs by 2040 as well. The final country with a firm plan on eliminating new petrol and diesel vehicle sales is Costa Rica which they plan on doing by 2050.

Future Outlook

The world is at the tipping point for the widespread adoption of electric vehicles, and it’s going to happen steadily over the course of the 2020s. Every company can see the writing on the wall with Volkswagen, the world’s largest automobile manufacturer pledging to transition to an all-electric lineup by the end of the decade and with Tesla surging ahead to become the world’s most valuable car company. The internal combustion engine will stick around for a while longer but it’s almost certain that the future is going to be almost entirely electric.

The world stands at a crossroads. If humanity doesn’t do anything to address the growing climate crisis then we can expect global temperatures to increase well beyond 2 degrees celsius over pre-industrial levels by the end of the century which will have catastrophic consequences for all of us. Governments, corporations and individuals like you and me have to do what we can to reduce and mitigate this catastrophe from happening and reducing our emissions is just one of the many steps we have to take.