2030 Diesel and Petrol Car Ban in the UK: Everything You Need to Know

When will diesel and petrol cars be banned?

The ban on new petrol and diesel cars was originally introduced in 2017 under former Prime Minister Theresa May’s government, with an initial target date of 2040. This was brought forwards to 2030 during Boris Johnson’s tenure in November 2020, then delayed to 2035 due to cost-of-living concerns by Rishi Sunak.

However, this has since been rescinded, with the original 2030 target restored by Keir Starmer’s Labour government in 2024 for the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, whilst new hybrid sales are still expected to be phased out by 2035.

The intention behind the ban is to drive the UK’s transition from ICE cars to electric vehicles and reduce the effects of fossil fuel-powered driving on climate change, with the ultimate aim of moving transport to a more sustainable future.

This includes plug-in and full hybrid cars which, despite using some electric power for driving, still rely heavily on petrol or diesel to power an internal combustion engine.

However, existing diesel, petrol, or hybrid car drivers will still be allowed to drive their vehicles on the roads, and second-hand ICE and hybrid cars can still be purchased and sold – at least for the foreseeable future.

What will happen to petrol and diesel cars after 2030?

At the time of writing, nothing is expected to fundamentally change for drivers of ICE vehicles, and hybrid drivers will still have until 2035 to buy a new hybrid before their sales are banned. However, the UK Government also currently offers no incentives or grants for buying an EV.

Workplaces may offer EV leasing options through a salary sacrifice scheme if you’re lucky. This means your employer would lease the electric car for you and take the cost off your gross pay (so pre-tax), making it cheaper to lease than if you leased privately.

That said, there are some grants available to help lower the costs of buying and installing dedicated home EV chargers. Find more information on the all the EV chargepoint schemes currently available in our guide.

Alternatively, if you’re thinking of going electric due to the upcoming ban, but a brand-new EV is not in your budget and you have no EV salary sacrifice scheme at work, consider buying a second-hand electric car.

Can I still drive my diesel car after 2030?

You’ll still be able to drive your petrol or diesel car after 2030 if you wish. The ban won’t stop people already owning ICE cars from using them.

But that might not be the case everywhere. If current Clean Air Zones expand or become stricter, we may see the total ban of ICE cars entering certain areas at specific or all times. This could make diesel, as well as petrol cars, less future-proof than EVs.

When will petrol stop being sold?

There are currently no plans to stop the sale of petrol or diesel fuel in the UK. It’s not impossible for petrol and diesel to eventually be phased out, becoming either less available or more expensive in the future.

The ban of new ICE cars will mean that you’ll see fewer of them, as old models come to the end of their lives and are scrapped. This means the demand for petrol and diesel will eventually reduce, meaning supply will likely drop, too. But for now, an outright halt to the sale of petrol or diesel doesn’t seem to be in the pipeline.

What will happen to classic cars when petrol is banned?

Classic cars using petrol or diesel will not be banned when legislative changes happen in 2030, but it’s likely that the rising uptake of EVs will present a challenge to classic car drivers in the future.

You may see an increase in electric charging stations in public as demand grows, whilst simultaneously the reduction in demand for petrol and diesel cars may reduce the availability of petrol and diesel stations. This would make it more difficult, or certainly more expensive, to drive classic cars reliably. But even then, it’s not a change that will happen immediately, so for now it shouldn’t be of immediate concern for classic car owners.

When will all cars be electric in the UK?

As much as we’d love to see it, there are currently no plans for all - existing or new, petrol and diesel vehicles, LPG-fueled or hybrid cars - to be replaced by electric vehicles on a mandatory basis in the UK. It’s expected that ICE cars will gradually disappear off the roads as the ban on their sales comes into effect from 2030, with hybrids following suit after 2035.

However, drivers will still be able to buy a used ICE car, making them likely to remain a sight on UK roads for some time.

Our view on the 2030 ICE and 2035 hybrid bans

Unsurprisingly, we were very happy to see the date brought forwards back to 2030. It was always our belief that demand for EVs from drivers will help achieve this objective much sooner than the previous 2035 target. Indeed, it was our view that drivers will only want to buy electric cars anyway by 2030, making the 2035 delay somewhat meaningless. This was based on global trends that indicate the rise in electric cars is inevitable.

We equally hope there are no further delays or that it doesn’t get pushed back again, as if there’s any one thing the car industry dislikes, it’s uncertainty!

Manufacturers across the board have taken EVs as a concept seriously, with plenty of fully battery-electric models entering the market over the last few years. This gives drivers lots of choice to choose the right car for their needs and experience the superior performance of electric motoring, such as instant acceleration, assured handling, and effortless driving.

And that’s to say nothing of the unbeatable convenience of top-up charging at home, work, or their destination. Whilst charging is regularly seen as a concern for those not used to living with it, the reality is it’s a huge convenience win for drivers. No longer do we have to detour to refuel, spending fuel in the process; instead, electric cars fuel themselves whilst we work, sleep, and play. There’s nothing quite like waking up every morning to a fully charged car, or getting a top-up whilst you work or do the weekly food shop.

Even for the occasional longer journeys when you need to charge en-route, the UK has a network of high-powered public chargers that can put over 150 miles into your car in the time it takes to have a coffee and a refresh!

Think of it like the evolution of portable music. We had tapes, then CDs, and then the digital age when we first had MP3 players, before eventually uploading music directly to our phones. Then came along the likes of Spotify and Apple Music, and we never had to do our own uploading and instead could simply stream music. And people adopted it in droves, because the new technology was both cheaper and better for consumers.

But there’s also a significant cost factor. Electric cars are already cheaper to run than ICE equivalents, and with battery prices continuing to fall, they’ll soon be cheaper to buy as well. In fact, we’re already starting to see some solidly affordable mass-market models with decent ranges arriving.

Of course, there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done to build the charging infrastructure we need to support the mass uptake of electric cars over the next decade. But rest assured, that work is well underway, encouraged by the demand for EVs and our collective need to safeguard the environment and halt climate change.

So it’s already easy to see why you might buy an EV in 2030, and hard to imagine why you’d bother with an ICE car, even a second-hand one. This means falling residual values will make them unviable, pushing the UK closer to 100% electric sales.