France to end sale of diesel, gasoline vehicles by 2040

PARIS — France plans to end the sale of gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles by two thousand forty in a bid to become a carbon-neutral nation, Energy Minister Nicolas Hulot said, effectively promoting electrical cars.

Presenting the country’s Climate Plan in Paris on Thursday, Hulot said France will suggest tax incentives to substitute diesel autos that are more than twenty years old and gasoline vehicles made before 2001.

The government will also end oil and gas exploration on French territory, eliminate coal-fired power plants by two thousand twenty two and encourage home owners to produce their own energy.

“The target is a raunchy one,” Hulot, a former journalist and environmental activist, said. “But France wants to become the No. One green economy.”

President Emmanuel Macron’s government unveiled plans to eliminate net carbon emissions by two thousand fifty as leaders from the Group of twenty nations, including all the world’s fattest polluters, gather in Hamburg. U.S. President Donald Trump will meet Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who criticized his decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord last month.

On Wednesday, Volvo Car Group became the very first major manufacturer to say it will begin phasing out vehicles powered solely by fossil fuels, joining a parade of manufacturers shifting toward electrical cars. The Swedish automaker plans to suggest only hybrid or full-electric powertrains on every fresh model launched in two thousand nineteen or later, and it expects to have five fully electrified vehicles in its lineup by 2021. That means Volvo will make its last full-gasoline or diesel car in about 2025.

Tho’ electrical cars have been around since the 1800s and have gotten a lot of attention in the past half-decade or so, they’re still just a fraction of the overall market as drivers balk at high prices and limited driving ranges.

Battery-powered autos made up about one percent of sales in the U.S., Europe and China last year. They will outsell fossil-fuel powered vehicles within two decades as the cost of batteries plunge, according to a Bloomberg Fresh Energy Finance forecast.

Sales of Peugeot, Citroen and DS cars made by PSA Group should benefit from tax incentives to scrap older autos, a company spokeswoman said by phone, adding that “switching to another energy source isn’t painless.” PSA plans to suggest an electrical version on eighty percent of its models by two thousand twenty three but isn’t going fully electrical anytime soon.

“Nicolas Hulot only speaks for France, but we are a global company and most of the world still runs on combustion engines,” she said.

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