2035 Diesel and Petrol Car Ban in the UK: Everything You Need to Know

When will diesel and petrol cars be banned?

The UK government is due to ban the sale of new diesel and petrol cars from 2035. This includes liquid petroleum gas or LPG. The intention is to drive the transition from ICE to electric vehicles (EVs) to reduce the effect of fossil fuel powered driving on climate change, moving transport to a more sustainable future.

The plan to ban new diesel and petrol cars was initially set to begin in 2040 by the then environmental secretary. The initiative was later brought forward to 2030, and then ultimately delayed to 2035.

Sales of hybrid vehicles will also be banned from this date. Plug-in and full hybrid cars use some electric power from smaller batteries for driving, but they rely heavily on petrol or diesel to power an internal combustion engine, especially for longer journeys.

The ban doesn’t impact existing diesel and petrol car owners, hybrid cars or people using LPG. These vehicles are still allowed to drive on the road and can still be purchased and sold second hand - at least for the foreseeable future.

What will happen to petrol and diesel cars after 2030?

The ban of new petrol and diesel car sales was previously set to come into place from 2030. However, the government announced in 2023 that the UK ban would be delayed by 5 years to start from 2035 instead, citing the cost of living crisis as one of the reasons for the delay.

Currently, the UK Government offers no incentives or grants to private individuals for the purchase of a new electric vehicle. You may be eligible for a grant to reduce the cost of buying and installing a home charger though. Find more information on the EV chargepoint scheme in our guide.

Workplaces may offer EV leasing 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.

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. We’ve created a helpful guide for people looking to purchase a used EV.

Can I still drive my diesel car after 2035?

You’ll still be able to drive your petrol or diesel car after 2035 if you wish. The ban won’t stop people already owning ICE cars from using them.

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, become less available or more expensive in the future.

The ban of new ICE cars would mean that you’ll see less and less of them, as old models come to the end of their lives and are scrapped. The demand for petrol and diesel will eventually reduce, meaning supply will likely drop, too.

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 2035. 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 of electric charging stations while the availability of petrol and diesel stations could decrease, making it more difficult to drive classic cars reliably.

When will all cars be electric in the UK?

At this time, there are no plans for all, existing or new, petrol and diesel vehicles, LPG-fuelled or hybrid cars to be replaced by electric vehicles on a mandatory basis in the UK. It’s expected that most ICE cars will slowly disappear off the roads, as the ban on their sales comes into effect from 2035.

Our view on the 2023 ICE and hybrid ban

We believe that the industry will help achieve this objective much sooner than 2035. Indeed by 2030, we think that drivers will only want to buy electric cars anyway. This is based on global trends that will make the electric vehicle’s rise inevitable.

Through the second half of the 2020s, more and more full battery electric models will begin to flood the market from a host of manufacturers. This will give drivers the chance to experience the superior performance of electric motoring; instant acceleration, assured handling, effortless driving and the benefit of convenient top-up charging at their home, work and destinations.

While charging is often a concern for those not used to living with an electric car, in reality, it’s a real convenience win for drivers. Electric cars fuel themselves whilst we work, rest and play. No longer do we have to detour to refuel when we’re trying to get somewhere. Simply charge once you arrive, returning to find a fully charged car each morning at home, each evening at work and benefiting from top-ups at convenient locations like Tesco while you shop. Even for those occasional journeys of more than 200 miles where you need to charge en route, there will be a network of high-powered chargers that will put more than 150 miles into your car in the time it takes for a coffee and a refresh.

So it’s easy to see why you’d buy an electric car by 2030, but it’s hard to imagine why you’d bother with a petrol powered car. Which means the falling residual values will make internal combustion engine sales unviable by 2030. And that will be job done - 100% electric sales!

Of course, there is still a lot of work to do to build the charging infrastructure we’ll need to support the mass uptake of electric cars over the next decade, but that work is well underway. Pod Point’s aim has always been to put a Pod Point everywhere you park so that every home, workplace car park, and destination will have easy to use chargepoints that are smart enough to work in harmony with the grid.