Diesel / petrol banned by 2040 what do we do then

Well as I will be 95 by then if still around, I doubt if I will be caravanning! 

But things will have to change, and I suspect caravanning as we know it now, will be a thing of the past.  The trend is already towards Motorhomes and I guess that that will continue.

However, pretty well all MH's are Diesel powered so the problem remains.  The whole thing relies on two key issues. Electric vehicles are no Bl**** good at the moment for our pastime. They have too short a range and cannot lug a heavy load about. Clearly there is still a lot of development to be done there.

The key lies in the engine development for the medium/heavy delivery vehicle.  Every Transit van, Mercedes Sprinter van and countless other delivery vans are currently powered by Diesel so new engines need to be designed for them. Those are the engines that Motorhomes will require to be fitted post 2040.

TF 

I can't see them being around by then, they'll be a thing of the past? Little electric cars and tow pods maybe? 

For towing a solar panel on both the the car and c/van twice the power to keep batteries charged, and real off grid camping as well

Just politicians' froth. The Gov't can't stick to promises, a policy, or a manifesto for 6 months never mind 23 years. And how many U-turns or changes of Gov't may there have been by 2040?

It'll help compensate for the pollution from China producing the electricity from its coal-fired power stations, a new one of which (so I've read) is, or was until recently, being built every week, and the multi-litre engine gas guzzling cars in America.

We'll be needing very long hook-up cables too. And who could we contact if we had Leverse Porality?

Still, if it does come about at least I'll have a peacefully silent ride to the polluting crematorium.

Just watched a report about this on the news. Seems like Michael Gove is in charge of the policy ....

.... what could possibly go wrong?!  

You are absolutely right, political posturing of the highest order.

So, the government have declared there will be no sales of new cars after 2040 powered by diesel or petrol

Lets think about this for a minute...

On the 1st January 2040, there will be in excess of 40 Million petrol and diesel cars on the road in the U.K. unless in the meantime no viable completely clean way for burning petrol or diesel has come forward. So let's assume we are STILL buying petrol and diesel cars in 23 years time, that's an awful lot of cars still burning fossil fuels on our roads at the point the government decides things will change. Given that the average life expectancy of a car in current times is 8 years, with a good proportion lasting up to 15 years, I don't need to spell out where this is going do I?

The government annual take of fuel duty is currently at approx £32billion, this will increase with inflation etc so probably double this figure in 23 years time. OK so not all paid for by car drivers, a bloody big proportion of it is though.

The worlds oil companies will not roll over and let this happen, 23 years is an awful long time to develop ultra clean burning of fossil fuels

and finally, unless a perfectly good alternative to petrol and diesel powered cars comes in the next 23 years, with the same convenience, ability, and cost, people power will prevail against any government. The people of the world will simply not let it happen no matter what any government tries to dictate. 

So, no need to think about how the caravan industry will cope going forward, no need whatsoever to ask the Caravan Club to ballot the government (as suggested in another thread), no need to do anything different..... for a very very very long time.

Totally agree with you, It will be decades before it has any real impact on every day life. I would even go as far to say that my Son who is 32 will not see it happen.

Indeed, and don't you just love it when a U.K. Government sets a target date, because they are so good at meeting target dates and never extending them 

When one takes into consideration the whole life cycle to produce, run, and dispose of electric vehicles this looks like a sure fire way of increasing pollution.One big positive of the Internal Combustion Engine is that it produces the power at the point of use. Making electricity far away, where someone else gets to breathe the air pollution, invokes the cost of transmitting it and the losses incurred shoving it down wires.

Then there is the problem of getting the electricity into moving vehicles. We have had electric tramcars, trolley buses, railways and Scaletrix for many generations but no-one has ever devised a way for overtaking to happen as smoothly as it does with independently powered vehicles. Maybe the future holds for roads equiped with power rails embedded in the tarmac and onboard batteries that are used for parking and overtaking.

However, as the proposals are (currently) for cars and vans there should never be a problem for motor caravans that are based on trucks and buses which both seem to fall outside the proposals.

One rumour...to convert lamp posts...they already have a built in power source and you could plug into that.