The government’s plan to bring forward to 2035 the ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2035 will not include motorcycles, the Department for Transport has confirmed.
The 2035 deadline is five years sooner than the previous target of 2040 announced in 2018 and could be made even earlier if a faster transition is feasible. The ban also includes hybrid and plug-in hybrids for the first time, but all of the plans are still subject to consultation at this stage.
It was not clear in the original guidance whether motorcycles were included. it had stated: “The market for zero emission motorcycles is at an earlier stage than either cars or vans. Zero emission motorcycles can help reduce congestion, improve urban air quality and reduce noise.
“While cars outnumber motorcycles by more than 24 to one on UK roads, motorcycles are a sizeable vehicle population.
“To continue to support the development of the market and bridge the cost gap that remains between zero emission and petrol motorcycles, we will continue the plug-in motorcycle grant until at least 2020.”
The Government still offers the plug-in motorcycle grant of 20% of the purchase price of certain electric motorbikes and scooters (up to a maximum of £1500), and the Ultra Low Emissions Zone in central London that came into effect in 2019 included non Euro3 compliant motorbikes, too.
So, while cars and vans are in the firing line right now, it is highly likely that motorbikes will follow suit in the future.
Motorcycling as we all know is a cleaner and more efficient way of travelling and if more people were to use them instead of cars then congestion would be greatly reduced, also reducing emissions from vehicles that are stationary and sat in traffic, tackling the problem in two different areas.
A study in Belgium found that if just 10% of cars were replaced by motorcycles in our most congested cities then congestion would be reduced by a massive 40% and also cut up to 15,000 hours a day of vehicles being sat stationary in traffic.
It is unsure at the moment exactly what the proposals for motorcycles will be and how they will be included in the government outlines. There is however a strong argument for the use of motorcycles in the battle to tackle the high levels of NO2 in our cities.
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