AKIPRESS.COM - It looks like Germany is about to become the first major country to set an official deadline for a ban on gas-powered cars. India recently confirmed that it is evaluating a scheme for all its fleet to be electric by 2030 and both the Dutch government and the Norwegian government are discussing the possibility to ban gas-powered car sales and only allow electric vehicle sales starting also by 2025, according to Electrek.

But while the Netherlands and Norway are fighting over the technicalities, a senior government official in Germany confirmed they will impose a mandate for all new cars registered in the country to be emissions free by 2030.

The mandate will be part of Germany’s pledge to cut carbon dioxide output by 80% to 95% by 2050.

A zero emission mandate has been expected since Germany joined the International Zero-Emission Vehicle Alliance, which aims at making all passenger vehicles emission-free by 2050, in December last year.

The Environment Ministry confirmed that the transport industry is lagging behind in its plan to reduce carbon emission across all sectors in the country and that its emission levels remain virtually unchanged since the 1990s.

Germany has a fleet of about 45 million vehicles including only about 150,000 hybrids and 25,000 all-electric vehicles. It’s important to note that the new mandate will be for new registration and that it takes about 20 years to replace a whole car fleet.