Prime minister Rishi Sunak has delayed the Government's ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2030 to 2035, potentially slowing the transition to electric vehicles.
The 2030 date was first brought in under Boris Johnson in 2020 when Mr Sunak was chancellor.
Today, Mr Sunak said: 'The up-front costs [to electric vehicles] are high and we have further to go to get the charging infrastructure truly nationwide, and we need to strengthen our own auto industry so we aren't reliant on heavily subsidised carbon-intensive imports from countries like China
'So to give us more time to prepare, we are going to ease the transition to electric vehicles. You will still be able to buy petrol and diesel cars and vans until 2035 and even after that you will still be able to buy and sell them second-hand.'
He added: 'I expect that by 2030 the vast majority of cars sold will be EVs.'
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