The UK government could soon impose a new type of car ban in order to encourage the production and sale of purely electric vehicles.

According to Autocar, the UK, as part of its Road to Zero plan, will "ban the sale of new cars that can travel less than 50 miles on electricity from 2040". The plan will reportedly be announced imminently as a follow-up to last year's announcement about the government banning all diesel and petrol cars by 2040. The UK is in the process of implementing a multi-billion-pound strategy meant to cut pollution.

Details are slim, so we don't yet know if or even which hybrid vehicles would be exempt from the ban. Autocar said it's estimated that 99 per cent of all cars on sale right now would not be able to be sold under the terms of Road to Zero, though, keep in mind, 2040 is still two decades away, so it's reasonable to assume that many of the vehicles currently for sale won't even be operating on UK roads in another 22 years.

Electric vehicles account for just 5.2 per cent of all new car sales, Autocar said, if you look at the numbers from the first four months of 2018, despite new research that claimed air quality in the UK is “a national health emergency”. The UK clearly wants to address that by becoming a global leader in zero-emission transport, though some argue it needs to roll out incentives and ensure the right infrastructure is in place first.

It's important to note that The Department for Transport has denied these claims by Autocar, saying it does not comment on leaked draft documents, and that the "Road to Zero strategy is yet to be finalised and has not been agreed by ministers." It continued, “It is categorically untrue that Government is planning to ban the sale of hybrid [and plug-in hybrid] cars in the UK by 2040.”