The world is ever-changing with thinking and futuristic leaders with a visionary mindset of making lives better which always prompts them to go all length to make things work. While Nigeria continues to battle with dwindling petrol prices, diesel and aviation jets, some countries have already attained the stage of eradicating petrol cars from their roads. Nigeria is a nation that is blessed with crude oil which has become a major source of corruption for political aspirants, whose mindset is fixated on having their share of the national cake.
However, let’s take a look at those top 5 countries who have attained the advanced stage of switching from fossil or petrol cars to electric or hybrid cars.
- Norway was one of the first countries in the world to propose a ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars by making the switch to electric-powered vehicles, which encouraged many other nations to follow its lead.
- Germany’s Bundesrat federal council agreed to ban fossil fuel powered vehicles by 2030 in October 2016, when it also suggested for the European Commission to introduce an EU ban on diesel and petrol vehicles. German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to these plans in August 2017. In February this year, the government ruled that German cities can enforce their own bans on diesel cars in an effort to lower air pollution.
- France announced plans last year to ban all petrol and diesel cars by 2040, in addition to phasing out oil and gas production. This forms part of the country’s goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2050. The French Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot made the announcement following Volvo’s plans to stop selling petrol and diesel cars from 2019. In 2018, approximately 150,000 electric vehicles are registered in France and electric passenger cars formed 1.98% of new cars registered in 2017.
- The United Kingdom originally announced plans to ban the sale of new petrol or diesel cars in July 2017 with a target date of 2040. The plans were confirmed to include hybrid vehicles in 2018 following increasing pressure of legal action from the EU over the illegal levels of air pollution. The Road to Zero strategy was announced by UK Transport Secretary Chris Grayling this month to include other targets such as for half of all cars sold to be ultra-low emission by 2030.
- Scotland announced plans in 2017 to eliminate petrol and diesel vehicles by 2032, eight years ahead of the rest of the UK. Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon outlined a number of plans to expand charging infrastructure and set up initiatives to encourage electric car sales.
In total, only seven European countries in the world including the Netherlands and Ireland have announced measures to phase out petrol and diesel vehicles in favour of electric models.
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