Britain has announced that it plans to phase out the sales of gas, diesel, and hybrid cars by 2035 as part of a push toward only electric vehicles being sold in the country.
According to Reuters, the government announced the plan on Tuesday, which is five years earlier than initially planned. The push for an earlier ban is Britain’s attempt to reduce air pollution.
“We have to deal with our CO2 emissions,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday. “As a country and as a society, as a planet, as a species, we must now act.”
Britain’s ban doesn’t mean there won’t be any gas, diesel, or hybrid cars on the road after 2035, since cars sold before then could be on the road following th enactment after the ban. However, the ban ensures that all new cars bought after 2035 will be electric only.
Aside from Britain, Reuters reports that France, Mexico, and Spain have all made similar promises to ban diesel or fossil-fuel-powered cars within the next decade or so.
The automotive industry is gearing for an electric revolution, as brands like Bentley promise all-electric models by 2023, and others like Mazda, Toyota, and Porsche follow suit with plans to add electric vehicles to their model lineups.
German automaker Daimler announced in September that it would end the development of combustion engines to focus solely on electric vehicles.
One of Daimler’s biggest and most popular brands is Mercedes-Benz, which sells fully electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, and high-performance hybrids. By discontinuing gas and diesel engines, we may soon see a Mercedes-Benz lineup that is fully electric.
While foreign automakers and countries are making strides in the electric vehicle market, the U.S. hasn’t made any promise to weed out gas- and diesel-powered cars.
However, U.S. automakers are making their own pledges to include more electric vehicles in their lineups. Ford plans on an F-150 electric truck, and General Motors will introduce an electric pickup in 2021 as well.
In total, there are more than 40 EVs scheduled to reach car showrooms during the early 2020s, and they will all have more range, quicker acceleration, and better in-car tech.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.