At the beginning of last month, French Ecology Minister Nicolas Hulot announced that, in order to meet their targets under the Paris climate accord, Emmanuel Macron’s government was banning the manufacture of all new petrol and diesel cars by the year 2040.

The UK then followed this landmark announcement by proposing an almost identical ban for the same deadline.

Both these countries are proposing the ban as a way to fight the growing health risks associated with the air pollution caused by combustion engines.

Norway, meanwhile, already has the world’s most prolific integration of electric cars into their society, and aims to sell only electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid cars by 2025.

Germany, the Netherlands and India are also considering banning petrol and diesel cars within the next two decades, and a number of other countries, including Denmark, China, Japan and Spain have set targets for electric cars sales over the next couple of years.

However, the source of the electricity plays a big factor in determining the carbon footprint of electric cars in different countries.

France gets most of its electricity for Nuclear power plants, so a reduction in fossil fuel emissions from cars would go a long way to reducing the total emission for the country.

Countries like South Africa, on the other hand, get most of their power from coal burning power plants, and this significantly increases the carbon emissions associated with charging an electric vehicle from the grid.

Car manufacturers are also overcoming their initial resistance to electric cars and getting more on-board with the move away from fossil fuels.

Volvo said that from 2019 onwards they would stop making cars with traditional combustion engines, instead focusing on developing new hybrid and fully-electric vehicles. This follows pressure from their customers to make the switch.

Peugeot and Citroen – owned by PSA Group – intends to electrify 80% of its fleet by 2023.

Tesla, the industry leader in electric vehicle manufacture, recently released their Model 3, a luxury car with a price tag comparable to a BMW 330i.

The moves of these companies makes even more sense following the Volkswagon emissions scandal earlier this year, where the company had to pay an enormous, multi-billion dollar fine for attempting to cheat their way passed an emissions test for some of their diesel engines.

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The above information is simply a guide. Contact your relevant vehicle insurance company to confirm any policy, regulations, or terms and conditions related to the ‘regular driver’.