The Government has opened a consultation that could ease the sales targets forcing car makers to sell more electric vehicles, and the industry is split on whether that's good news or a serious mistake.
ZEV Mandate vs the 2030 ban, what's the difference
It's easy to conflate the two, but they're separate policies doing different jobs. The 2030 ban is the blunt instrument: from that date, no new car powered solely by petrol or diesel can be sold in the UK, full stop, though full hybrids and plug-in hybrids get a stay of execution until 2035. Small manufacturers like McLaren and Aston Martin are exempt entirely.
The ZEV Mandate is the mechanism doing the work in the years leading up to that deadline. Rather than banning anything outright, it sets an annual percentage of each manufacturer's sales that must be fully electric, currently 33% this year, rising to 80% by 2030 and 100% by 2035, with financial penalties for falling short. A manufacturer can still sell you a petrol car after missing its target; it just has to pay for the privilege, or buy credits from a rival who overshot.
What's under review right now is the Mandate's targets, specifically the trajectory between 2027 and 2030, not the 2030 ban itself. The Government says the ban's end goal hasn't changed.
Why the Government is reviewing it
The pressure has been building for a while. Manufacturers have been discounting EVs heavily to hit their targets and avoid fines, and the SMMT has argued for months that the mandate can force supply but not demand. Ford has cut 800 UK jobs this year citing weak EV demand, and Stellantis is consolidating its electric van production and closing its Luton plant, putting 1,100 jobs at risk. SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes has called the review "a timely opportunity to adjust the transition so it works for all."
Why some are against loosening it
Not everyone agrees easing the targets is the right call. Charging industry groups including BEAMA and ChargeUK warn that weakening the mandate risks spooking the private investors who've funded the UK's charging network so far, and Octopus Electric Vehicles chief executive Gurjeet Grewal has argued the mandate "is working" and that watering it down now "would send exactly the wrong signal."
The green-investment publication NetZeroInvestor has gone further, putting a £1.5bn figure on the infrastructure rollout it says could be undermined by a delay. Worth flagging that NetZeroInvestor writes primarily for a green-investment audience, so that's very much an interested party making its case rather than a neutral referee, but it's one more voice in what's becoming a genuinely split argument.
What it means for you
If you're weighing up an EV, a plug-in hybrid or sticking with petrol for your next car, this consultation is worth watching, but don't expect anything to change overnight. The review doesn't close until 23 October, any resulting changes would only apply to targets from 2027 onwards, and the 2030 sales ban itself isn't what's on the table here. Still, it's a real signal of how confident the Government actually is in the current pace of the switch to electric.
Where do you sit on this one? Should the Government hold firm on the Mandate's targets, or is easing them the more realistic path? Let us know in the comments.