Netherlands Proposes Banning Gas, Diesel Car Sales By 2025

In the Netherlands, a group of politicians has proposed the country ban the sale of all new gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles in less than a decade. Holland's labor party, the Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA), wants to make a complete shift to emissions-free vehicles, and the motion was approved by the Dutch parliament's lower house, the House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer). Under the proposal, even hybrids and plug-in hybrids would be excluded from sale beginning in 2025. That would leave just battery electric and fuel cell vehicles as the only legal options. In addition to the ban on vehicle emissions, the proposal also pushes the Dutch government to ease the country's traffic problems by investing heavily in autonomous vehicles.

Of course, there is opposition to the proposal. The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy calls it "overambitious and unrealistic," with the party's minister of economic affairs, Henk Kamp, suggesting that 15 percent of the market share for EVs is likely the best that can be managed without great difficulty. Even PvdA members are criticizing the proposal, saying they weren't aware of it until they heard about it in the news. Others in the party are worried about alienating voters.

The PvdA's representative in Parliament, Jan Vos, responded to criticism saying that the proposal is just a glimpse into what the country could look like, a way to get people to consider a future free from tailpipe emissions. The odds of the proposal actually being signed into law, it appears, are very slim. Still, as EV Obsession points out, if any country could pull it off, the Netherlands would be a good candidate.