Electric Cars: What happens in 2035

2035 is a date you see often quoted when it comes to electric cars along with the claim that when we get to 2035, all new cars will have to be electric.

Except that, unfortunately, it’s wrong. Despite what you might have read, when your watch reads 00.01am on 1st January 2035, it’s not the case that any car with an internal-combustion engine will disappear from car showrooms. So, what are the true facts behind the Government legislation and what are the hard-and-fast dates for the future electric and hybrid cars?

The sale of new cars

Let’s start with that oft-quoted 2035 date. What is true is that sales of new cars and vans that are only powered by an internal combustion engine won’t be allowed from 2035 onwards.

So what happens between now and 2035?

So what happens between now and 2035, both for car manufacturers and for car buyers? What definitely isn’t going to happen is that they won’t be frantically registering traditional cars with internal combustion engines in the run ups to the deadline.

In fact, quite the opposite. Given the costs in developing new cars, the reality is that more and more manufacturers will naturally grow their electric models before then – Citroen is already offering its Berlingo in electric-only form, with Vauxhall and Peugeot announcing they will have fully electric ranges by 2028. Every new Ford will also be electric by 2030. So many manufacturers are already planning to be ahead of that fully electric 2035 legislation by some margin.

Don’t think that petrol and diesel filling stations are suddenly going to disappear overnight though. While demand will obviously slowly drift towards EV charging stations, with the average lifespan of a new car in the UK being just over 13 years, there will be plenty of internal-combustion engined cars and vans on the roads for some time after 2035. Just not necessarily any new ones.