The government has launched a review of the UK’s electric vehicle sales targets and is considering cutting the required share of zero-emission car sales from 80% to as low as 50% by 2030, following pressure from car makers.
Under the current ZEV mandate, the proportion of new cars that must be electric rises each year, from 33% for 2026 to 80% by 2030. The mandate started at 22% in 2024. An outright ban on selling new petrol and diesel cars after 2030 will remain in place, the BBC reported on Friday.
The change under consultation could allow manufacturers to sell more hybrid vehicles, which would make up the remainder of sales if the pure-electric target were cut to 50%. An alternative option would keep the 80% target but extend flexibility for car makers as far as 2034. The longer-term deadline for phasing out new hybrid sales would remain 2035.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: “It’s right we keep targets under review to ensure they’re practical and back British industry. The end goal hasn’t changed, but we need to take business with us on the journey, and that’s exactly what we’re doing today.”
The consultation will run until late October. Lisa Brankin, managing director of Ford of Britain, welcomed the government’s “willingness to listen” to car makers, adding that it was vital to give industry and customers the certainty they need. Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said the mandate was “conceived under vastly different conditions” and called the review “a timely opportunity to adjust the transition so it works for all”.
Electric cars made up a quarter of UK sales in the first seven months of the year, according to the SMMT. Environmental groups criticised the move. Tanya Sinclair, chief executive of Electric Vehicles UK, questioned whether the government should be “asking whether we should extend the availability of polluting vehicles amid our hottest summer on record”. The Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit calculated that cutting the target to 50% would mean 2.6 million fewer electric cars on the road by 2035.
Gurjeet Grewal, chief of Octopus Electric Vehicles, said weakening the mandate “would send exactly the wrong signal, just as EVs are becoming some of the best-value cars on the road”. The Green Alliance said watering down the targets would “lock in avoidable emissions while undermining the certainty manufacturers need to invest”.
The review is one of the most significant changes to UK car policy since the 2030 ban was first announced, and its outcome will shape the market for the rest of the decade.