Battery electric cars will overtake diesels in Great Britain by 2030, analysis suggests
Battery electric cars are poised to overtake diesels on Great Britain’s roads by 2030, according to analysis that suggests London will be the first UK city to go diesel-free.The number of diesel cars on Great Britain’s roads in June had fallen to 9.9m in June last year, 21% below its peak of 12.4m vehicles, according to analysis by New AutoMotive, a thinktank focused on the transition to electric cars.Electric car sales are still growing rapidly, albeit more slowly than manufacturers had expected.
However, the transition to cleaner vans is lagging behind cars, and the number of diesel vans has continued to rise, to a record 4,4m,The UK went through a “dash for diesel” cars in the 2000s as the government granted them cheaper tax rates,Diesel engines tend to be more efficient than petrol engines, burning less fuel and producing less carbon dioxide,However, they also produce more nitrous oxides, which are harmful to health.
In 2015 Volkswagen was found to have created software to cheat on emissions tests, kicking off the “Dieselgate” scandal, costing it alone €30bn (£26bn) around the world in fines, compensation and legal costs.Analysis this year suggested the extra emissions from cheat devices from Volkswagen and other carmakers were responsible for thousands of deaths and cases of asthma.Sales of cars with diesel engines duly plummeted, to fewer than 100,000 in the first 11 months of 2025.However, it will take some time for the share of diesel cars on the road to diminish, as many cars bought during the peak years of diesels are only now being scrapped.Battery electric cars made up only 4% of the cars on UK roads last year, compared with 32% diesels and 58% that use petrol, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), a lobby group.
The other 6% were hybrids, which mostly combine a smaller battery with a petrol engine.Nevertheless, the number of diesels should drop as older cars are scrapped, delivering benefits for towns and cities where particulates tend to be concentrated.That will also have a knock-on effect for filling stations, leading to many withdrawing diesel supplies.London is expected to be the first place in the UK where no diesel cars or vans are registered, largely because of the ultra-low emission zone (Ulez), which applies charges for more polluting non-compliant cars.Diesel numbers are also dropping rapidly in the central belt of Scotland, which contains Edinburgh and Glasgow, both of which have low-emission zones.
“Ending the use of diesel is essential to clean up Britain’s choking cities,” said Ben Nelmes, the chief executive of New AutoMotive.“The UK is now rolling out electric cars at a rapid pace, and this is great news for everyone that enjoys clean air, quieter streets and really cheap running costs.“The UK imports billions of pounds of diesel every year, and we have been completely reliant on other countries to feed our thirst.Thankfully, we’re switching to electric cars at a rapid rate, and that will make the country cleaner and wealthier.”However, the analysis found that people in cities appeared to be selling their diesels to people in more rural areas.
The report found that, while the number of diesel vans has risen over the past decade, the peak of new diesel van sales probably happened before the pandemic, meaning the numbers on roads will eventually fall.Matt Finch, an environmental policy expert who co-wrote the report, said the world was “leaving the diesel age”.He said: “No one is denying diesel hasn’t been useful, but it has had its day.”
UK housebuilding in deepest slump since 2020 lockdowns; stock market rally falters amid geopolitical tensions – business live
Newsflash: Britain’s construction sector continued to shrink in December, as housing, commercial and civil engineering activity suffered sharp falls again.Data provider S&P Global has reported that activity across the UK construction sector, and new orders, both fell again last month.Housebuilding and commercial construction work both decreased at the fastest rate since May 2020, when the Covid-19 lockdown forced building sites to close, S&P Global’s survey of purchasing managers at UK construction firms shows.That highlights the government’s struggle to hit its housebuilding targets.Civil engineering was the weakest-performing category of construction activity in December; it also shrank, but not by as much as in November
FCA fines two former Carillion directors for misleading investors before collapse
The UK’s financial regulator has fined two former executives at the government contractor Carillion for misleading investors before the construction company’s collapse eight years ago.Richard Adam and Zafar Khan knew about serious problems in the business but failed to alert investors, the board or the audit committee, the Financial Conduct Authority found.Adam and Khan have been fined £232,800 and £138,900 respectively, after both former directors dropped their appeal against the FCA findings.The fines come eight years after the demise of the major government contractor, which was one of the biggest construction and facilities management companies in the country.Carillion entered liquidation with £7bn of debts in January 2018, resulting in 3,000 job losses and causing chaos across 450 projects and public-sector schemes, including schools, roads, prisons and the expansion of Liverpool Football Club’s stadium
Grok’s deepfake images which ‘digitally undress’ women investigated by Australia’s online safety watchdog
Australia’s online safety watchdog is investigating sexualised deepfake images posted on X by its AI chatbot, Grok.Elon Musk’s X has faced a global backlash since Grok began generating sexualised images of women and girls without their consent in response to requests for it to undress them.Ashley St Clair, the estranged mother of one of Musk’s children, said she had no response to her complaints about being digitally undressed.“I felt horrified, I felt violated, especially seeing my toddler’s backpack in the back of it,” she said this week.The fake images included one of a 12-year-old girl in a bikini
Elon Musk’s xAI announces it has raised $20bn amid backlash over Grok deepfakes
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company has raised $20bn in its latest funding round, the startup announced Tuesday, even as its marquee chatbot Grok faces backlash over generating sexualized, nonconsensual images of women and underage girls.xAI’s Series E funding round featured big-name investors, including Nvidia, Fidelity Management and Resource Company, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, and Valor Equity Partners – the private investment firm of Musk’s longtime friend and former Doge member Antonio Gracias. The funding round exceeded its initial $15bn target, according to xAI’s press release. The company touted Grok’s image-generation abilities in the announcement of its latest funding round.xAI lacks the prominence of its rival OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, and has continually drawn criticism for generating misinformation, antisemitic content and now potentially illegal sexual material
Injured Stokes to spend final day of Ashes tour watching from SCG pavilion
Ben Stokes is set to spend the final day of this Ashes tour watching on from the old pavilion at the SCG and hoping for a miracle in his absence after seeing yet another Test series cut short by injury.The all-rounder had worked hard to get through all five Tests in Australia only to fall at the final hurdle, limping off 10 balls into his opening spell on the fourth morning and appearing in distress. An England spokesperson later confirmed it was an issue with his right abductor (groin).Stokes did bat later in the day, emerging at No 8 but falling for one after struggling to move at the crease. The upshot is that when England come to defend a target on the final day – their lead was 119 overnight, eight wickets down – they will do so without their seam-bowling captain
The Spin | Revealed after 100 years: how a corrupt official robbed Percy Fender of the England captaincy
After a mere 100 years the Spin, always first with the news, is finally able to reveal the details of one of the more extraordinary secrets in the history of English cricket. The story comes from the private family archives of the former Surrey captain Percy Fender, which are being compiled into a fascinating new documentary film. It has always been a mystery that Fender, who was described by Wisden as “the shrewdest county captain of his generation” was never picked to lead England. After all these years, it now appears he was blackmailed out of the job by a corrupt cricket official.In a private audio recording made shortly before his death in 1985, Fender explains that in May 1924 he was approached “by a gentleman who was very well known in the cricket world” who, during the course of a conversation over two half-bottles of champagne in Fender’s flat at the Adelphi, offered him the England captaincy for the 1924-25 Ashes tour
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