8:29 am, December 24, 2024
The government has launched a consultation on the ZEV Mandate which could change the number of electric vehicles car makers are forced to sell every year.
Car makers and dealers have said the current targets – which stipulate car firms must hit 22% EV sales this year rising to 28% in 2025 – are unworkable.
The targets are currently due to rise each year until 2030, when the petrol and diesel car sales ban comes into force.
Stellantis blamed the tough targets as one of the reasons it is shutting its Luton plant which is due to close in April.
Labour restored the 2030 target which had been pushed back to 2035 by the Conservatives.
Transport secretary Heidi Alexander is seeking views from the automotive and charging industries to ‘restore clarity’ on how the 2030 ban can be achieved.
The Department for Transport said the consultation aims to help car makers ‘have the confidence to invest in the UK in the long term’ and ‘drive growth’.
The government also wants to make it easier and cheaper to charge electric cars.
The consultation has been welcomed by the industry as it calls for support to help the transition to electric cars.
SMMT boss Mike Hawes was positive that the government was reviewing both the ‘end sale date for cars powered solely by petrol or diesel’ and ‘flexibilities’ around the ZEV Mandate targets.
He added: ‘With the 2025 market looking under even greater pressure, it is imperative we get an urgent resolution, with a clear intent to adapt the regulation to support delivery, backed by bold incentives to stimulate demand.’
Electric car sales have been growing this year, but that’s come as a result of car makers forcing registrations into the market with hefty discounts.
Lisa Brankin, boss of Ford in the UK, told BBC Radio 4 today that the current ZEV Mandate ‘just doesn’t work’.
Ford is cutting 800 jobs in the UK and has blamed weak demand for electric vehicles as the cause.
Brankin said: ‘The one thing that we really need is government-backed incentives to urgently boost the uptake of electric vehicles.’
AA president Edmund King said: ‘The AA supported the original zero emission new cars sales deadline of 2030 as “challenging but ambitious” and the results of this consultation should define the firm route to zero emissions.
‘Understandably drivers have been hesitant not hostile about the transition but more clarity on hybrids, vans and planning support for accelerated charging infrastructure should give them more certainty.’
Toby Poston, of the BVRLA, added: ‘It has been a tough year for the automotive industry, which has spent billions of pounds underpinning the ZEV transition – funding huge discounts on new cars and taking a massive hit on used vehicle depreciation.
‘This consultation gives us a valuable opportunity to realign the aims of the mandate with the realities being seen in the market today.’
