Government officials in Germany are seeking a ban on new vehicles with internal combustion engines by 2030.

The Bundesrat wants the ban to extend to plug-in hybrid vehicles.

It was originally thought that internal combustion engines would not be banned until at least 2050, but the German federal council’s vote might bring this forward.

The Bundesrat is a legislative body that represents the 16 German federal states at a national level. Its resolutions, such as this one, are considered by the Bundestag, the country’s parliament.

Any final decision would, however, have to be first approved by the European Commission.

A second part of the vote calls for an elimination of EU policies that favour diesel cars, including lower taxes on sales of new diesel automobiles and lower taxes on diesel fuel.

Government officials argued that these current lower costs for diesel cars are detrimental when trying to encourage buyers to switch to zero emissions cars.