No more petrol / diesel cars from 2040 ?

In the news last night and this morning:

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But will it happen ? What would it look like ? And is it a good idea ?

My first reaction is that there seem to be some pretty hard obstacles.  The need for charging infrastructure has been mentioned.  Battery technologies to give enough range (without a fire hazard).   Enough Lithium for battery manufacture without terrible environmental cost.  Not to mention enough electricity generation capacity to charge them all - we have precious little margin to meet demands in winter for existing uses.  

In my more hopeful moments, my visions tend towards smaller, lighter cars, perhaps not with the range needed to reach Scotland, but maybe with a bit of joined up thinking we could have drive-on rail services for long journeys ?  And regarding generating capacity - why do we still not require PV on new builds ?

Evangelos Papathanassiou, aka Vangelis wrote:
The day the cars will lay in heaps
Their wheels turning in vain,
We'll run along the empty highways
Shouting, screaming, singing
Loud, loud, loud, loud.

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I tend to have different questions. So what happens about sporting events such as Formula 1, bike racing etc.

I thought that Formula 1 was supposed to be carbon neutral for quite some time - if you believe carbon offsetting is valid. I suspect that excemptions can be made (bought !) for big motorsports, but the question is what is in it for the motor industry, showcasing the performance of petrochemical power if you can, as a consumer, buy only electric cars ? Will Formula E have its day ?

And how does it make sense to still be promoting the growth of airports and air travel

The aspect of the plan which concerned us was how do you implement something like this in a rural area, where people rely more on their vehicles, and where there will not at first be the infrastructure required for recharging.

I could be wrong but I thought this was more about direct air pollution than being carbon neutral.

Yet again the consumer is getting the rap for consuming which is encouraged for economic growth. The fact that consumers were actually encouraged by government to move to diesel because it was supposedly cleaner than petrol seems to have been conveniently forgotten. Some of the highest levels of pollution in urban areas are around primary schools because diesel engines are not efficient for short distance, stop start driving.

In my view there should be legislation enacted as soon as possible to make leaving engines running in stationary vehicles illegal. It works in other countries. I have seen the haze over the infants' playground some colder mornings when I was still teaching, caused by parents sitting in their cars with the engines running so they could keep the car heater on.