Dear Editor,
Several countries have announced plans to ban or restrict the sale of new internal-combustion-engine (ICE) vehicles, over the next ten years. These include all 27 EU countries, Britain, Japan, China, India, Ethiopia, Costa Rica, and Singapore. And that’s despite many of these countries being producers of the same vehicles which sales they are restricting, with expected labour disruptions. It is time for Guyana to join this esteemed list.
For Guyana, there is no downside to this ban, just benefits including:
Continuing Role of Leadership in Mitigating Climate Change – The major reason most worldwide have opted to restrict ICE vehicles is the negative impact on greenhouse and other gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, benzene, and formaldehyde. These gases are responsible for not only the physical deterioration of our environment, but also that of our health from respiratory and carcinogen effects. As Guyana has earned a recognized leadership role protecting the environment, it can only improve on this with a ban on ICE vehicles.
Significant Reduction in Noise Levels – ICE technology utilizes explosions of compressed fuels in their engines to set vehicles in motion. Explosions create noise and so ICE vehicles then require mufflers to reduce these annoying sounds. Invariably, these abatement systems are inadequate for their purpose and their vehicle operation, especially in large capacity motorcycles, adds significantly to the noise pollution people are faced with, with known health ill-effects.
New Infrastructure Development – The technology replacing the ICE vehicle is the electric vehicle (EV). Whereas the ICE technology is supported by fuel stations, the EV is supported by charging stations. Thus, charging stations will have to replace the obsolete fuel stations with such bans resulting in the development of a non-polluting, cleaner form of energy distribution.
New Industry Jobs Creation – If the ban is accompanied by restriction of ICE vehicle use, then ICE vehicle owners would either have to scrap their vehicles or, more likely, convert them to EVs. Further, conversion would lead to replacing bulky iron and aluminum engines with electric batteries, with the need to recover the valuable metals in these alloys. With the availability of cheap natural gas, smelting these metals become feasible, increasing the employment of labour, along with the labour needs for the conversion process.
Banning the sales of new ICE vehicles along with the phaseout of the operation of existing ones is a no-brainer and should be high on the agenda of the relevant Authorities. To allow all involved to adequately adjust to the new state-of-affairs, the sales ban can take place by 2030, the period accepted by most countries considering the ban, and by 2040 for the phaseout of their operation.