Are classic vehicles going to be banned?
In May, the Historic and Classic Vehicles Alliance suggested more than 100,000 skilled jobs were at risk as the £18.3bn industry bowed under the weight of red tape and ‘poorly-focused environmental legislation.’
With the ban on new petrol and diesel vehicles never far from the headlines, it’s hard for classic vehicle owners not to feel they might soon find themselves in the environmental firing line.
However, Rachel Maclean, the minister responsible for the government’s transport decarbonisation plans, sought to reassure classic owners in an interview with Autocar, saying: “It’s important to be clear that while we’re phasing out the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles, at this stage we don’t have any plans to actually ask people to remove existing or classic vehicles… from the road. Hopefully I can say this and reassure people.”
Many enthusiasts are currently grappling with issues surrounding the introduction of E10 petrol, but on this issue, too, she promised the government was listening: “We want to be very clear that we do consider the needs of classic vehicles and their drivers, because it’s a big part of their lives.”
Maclean drives an electric Jaguar I-Pace and has experienced first-hand the patchy charging infrastructure. “We’re going to be laying new legislation about the requirements we’re going to put on operators later this year,” she said, outlining requirements for contactless payments, data sharing, and cost transparency.
That bodes well for the growing number of enthusiasts who turn to electric propulsion to keep their classic on the road, and while battery power has captured the imagination of many, Maclean was keen to paint a technology-agnostic picture: “We don’t prescribe one technology over another, but it’s a fact that some technologies have been accelerated beyond others.”
She acknowledged hydrogen and synthetic fuels have a role to play in transport’s decarbonisation, although Maclean suggested these were more likely to be used in HGVs, air travel and shipping, as “those sectors are hard to decarbonise.”
But for those who prefer to keep their historic vehicles as their makers intended, Maclean’s remarks give cause for a brighter outlook. “The classic vehicle community is a really important group,” she reiterated, “and a really important part of the whole picture.”
Research by the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs showed the average UK classic vehicle travels only 1,200 miles and emits just 563kg of CO2 in a year – less than half the emissions of using a mobile phone over the same period.
What would you do in the government’s position? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Boy folks that are talking about "no upside" of gasoline-fueled cars sound like the little girls my niece has over for play tea and cookies. They can GO TO HELLL before I stop driving my Challenger. Look at the list of TOP 50 wrong predictions by global climate change alarmists (changed to that after global warming never happened) In the 1970s, it was global cooling. Cover on TIME had a question asking if the new ice age was coming. We've lost at least 2 generations to the "WOKE" crowd. And we are in a LOT of trouble. Until they show up armed to take my car...FLOOR IT!!
CHALLENGERSFOREVER, 04/04/2022
I've owned classic cars on and off for the last 22 years and I can't imaging the roads in the future with not one classic cars on them I think the government have a soft spot for quirky classics it's our history its days gone by it's memories it brings people of the same interest together and above all it's just fun to own one or more classic to me modern day cars most of them are just a box on wheels with no style and in my opinion will never be a classic car can you imaging going down the road in 30 years time in a people carrier telling people this is my classic car LOL i don't think so the odd new jag or BMW or rover 75 in future might pass for a modern day classic but that's about it I don't worry about whether classic cars will be banned in the future as I just don't think they will be as long as we can still get the petrol and they don't ban petrol all together we'll be ok
meanghost, 24/11/2021
There won’t be a ban on classics as such, it will be the lack of fuel and oil that will render them inoperable. Once fuel sales start to dwindle petrol stations will close and those remaining will sell fuel at vastly inflated prices as running and stocking costs mount due to less being sold. Couple that with the proposed new pay per mile via black box in every vehicle and people will just give up owning classics, apart from those with enough money to afford it all. Fitting electric motors to a classic removes one of the main points in owning/driving one.
Deuceboy, 22/02/2022