Could We Ban the Sale of Petrol and Diesel Cars Now?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 28 September 2017
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The list of nations legislating to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars is growing. But these restrictions won’t come into effect for decades. Air pollution contributes to thousands of early deaths each year and the scandal known as Dieselgate, when vehicle manufacturers admitted tampering with emissions tests, made us more aware of the polluting power of the diesel engine. Automotive technology is advancing quickly, but will greener vehicles really replace the combustion engine? Hybrid and electric cars are better for the environment but more expensive, and petrol stations are easier to find than charging points.
This edition of the Inquiry asks, if we wanted to, could we ban the sale of diesel and petrol cars now?
(image: Cars sit in gridlock in heavy fog (pollution) in Beijing China. Photo Credit: Guang Niu/Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the inquiry on the BBC World Service with me Ruth Alexander. |
| 0:07.0 | Each week we bring you four expert witnesses answering one |
| 0:15.0 | Tuesday morning in July, I was on my way to work, |
| 0:19.0 | which takes me across one of the world's most famous shopping streets. |
| 0:22.0 | You might know it, Oxford Street in London. |
| 0:26.3 | It's also one of the world's most polluted roads. |
| 0:32.4 | Watching red bus after Red bus passed by, Black Cab after Black Cab as I waited to cross, |
| 0:37.0 | I thought about something I'd heard on the news that morning. |
| 0:41.0 | The UK government had announced it would ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars by the year |
| 0:46.0 | 2040 following its neighbour France. India and Germany say they'll do it too by 2030 and Norway and the Netherlands by 2025. |
| 0:55.0 | I've tried a chance to cross and I always do this. I held my breath as I dashed |
| 1:02.0 | through the exhaust fumes. |
| 1:04.0 | 2040 I thought that's more than 20 years away. |
| 1:09.0 | Couldn't we all try something more radical? |
| 1:12.0 | For the inquiry this week, we're... all try something more radical. |
| 1:13.6 | For the inquiry this week we're asking, could we ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars |
| 1:19.4 | now? Part 1, the problem. |
| 1:29.0 | You realize 15 years ago, quite how little we knew about vehicle emissions. |
| 1:35.0 | Our first expert witness, James Tate, is from the Institute for Transport Studies at the University of Leeds in the UK. |
| 1:43.6 | There was very little evidence around. |
| 1:45.8 | At the time, I was surprised. |
| 1:49.0 | He tried to set up a lab to test emissions himself and soon realized why no one knew much about them. |
... |
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