France plans to end the sale of gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles by 2040 in a bid to become a carbon-neutral nation, Energy Minister Nicolas Hulot said, effectively promoting electric cars.
Presenting the country’s Climate Plan in Paris last Thursday, Hulot said France will offer tax incentives to replace diesel autos that are more than 20 years old and gasoline vehicles made before 2001.
The government will also end oil and gas exploration on French territory, eliminate coal-fired power plants by 2022 and encourage home owners to produce their own energy.
President Emmanuel Macron’s government unveiled plans to eliminate net carbon emissions by 2050 as leaders from the Group of 20 nations, including all the world’s biggest polluters, gather in Hamburg. U.S. President Donald Trump will meet Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who criticized his decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord last month.
Though electric cars have been around since the 1800s and have gotten a lot of attention in the past half-decade or so, they’re still just a fraction of the overall market as drivers balk at high prices and limited driving ranges.
Battery-powered autos made up about 1% of sales in the U.S., Europe and China last year. They will outsell fossil-fuel powered vehicles within two decades as the cost of batteries plunge, according to a Bloomberg New Energy Finance forecast.
