By Ross Williams
Alpha Contracts Leasing Ltd
I WAS talking to a customer the other day and he asked about petrol engine vans. An unusual request from the gentleman concerned and when pressed he said that because there would be no more diesels after 2040 then he thought he would beat the price rise in petrol vehicles.
I pointed out that the Government’s announcement that there would be no more diesel or petrol engine cars produced after 2040 only applied to registrations from that date and any total ban wasn’t likely to come until a decade later (at least). Considering our respective ages I suggested we would both be using our bus passes by then and had no need to worry.
Whilst not a typical conversation in a working day it proved that ‘steady as you go’ is a good maxim by which to work and react to impending changes. There is no doubt that the greening of the Government policy will have an effect on the vehicles we run and produce in future years and decades, but there’s no need for a knee-jerk reaction.
One indication of where the manufacturers are going was the recent announcement by Volvo that any new cars launched from 2019 will be partially or totally powered by battery in what they called an ‘historic end’ to building cars only powered by a combustion engine.
In addition, the above announcement gave the doom-mongers an ideal opportunity to talk about the infrastructure required to keep all the new hybrid and fully electric cars on the road. Never mind whether you can find a charge point to ‘refuel’ at, will the wind be blowing hard enough to generate the power to feed the grid to enable the charge to work! Whilst slightly flippant this is a real challenge for the authorities to cope with. The idealistic greening of our environment has to be matched with some serious investment in the infrastructure to deliver this solution.
At Alpha Contracts we try to roll with these punches and keep the ship nice and steady. If you want some sensible down-to-earth advice about your options when considering your next car, whether it be diesel, petrol or hybrid, then give the sales team a call on 01604 756620.
Happy motoring (unless you are on the bus of course!)