The East African country of Ethiopia has become the first country in the world to ban the import of diesel and petrol cars. This will force the country's motorists to buy electric cars.
The East African country of Ethiopia will force the population to switch to electric cars. That is why the country's transport minister Alemu Sime said on 30 January this year that the government will ban the import of diesel and petrol cars.
That's what Autocar India writes.
– A decision has been made that in future cars cannot be imported into Ethiopia, unless they are powered, says the Minister of Transport.
According to Autocar, it is the first time ever that one of the world's countries has published such a policy. However, it is not necessarily about Ethiopia's government thinking about the country's climate accounting.
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Instead, Alemu Sime cites Ethiopia's economy as one of the main reasons for the new ban. The country simply cannot afford to import e.g. gasoline because the country lacks foreign currency.
However, the Minister of Transport will not set a date for when the ban will come into effect. It is also unclear whether cars already on their way to the country will be affected by the ban.
Furthermore, it is not known how the ban will affect a number of car brands such as Volkswagen, Nissan, Hyundai and Isuzu, which all have joint-venture factories in Ethiopia.
At home, the politicians in Christiansborg have several times floated the idea of banning new diesel and petrol cars. But it cannot be done at all.
At least not according to the applicable EU rules. The Folketing's so-called European Committee was already notified of this in 2019.
Since then, however, the EU countries have agreed to ban new fossil cars from 2035. That is, unless these can run on synthetic fuel. And the EU's largest party has recently announced that it wants the ban cancelled. Read more about it here .
