8:17 am, May 22, 2026
The SMMT has once again called for the ZEV mandate to be reviewed amid concerns about EV adoption.
The trade body has been a repeated critic of the eco targets over recent years, branding measures as a ‘fantasy‘ as recently as March.
The group has now taken a fresh swipe at the approach, with boss Mike Hawes repeating previous calls for a review into the rules.
The CEO added that the UK is now in a ‘very different place’ when the mandate was first introduced in 2024.
Currently, under the ZEV mandate, 80% of all new cars (and 70% of new vans) sold by 2030 have to be pure-electric, while some hybrids will be allowed to remain on sale until 2035. From then onwards, only pure-electric vehicles will allowed to be sold in the UK.
The mandate gradually increases the share of electric cars that manufacturers must sell each year, rising from 28% in 2024 to 80% by 2030 and reaching 100% by 2035. Companies that miss the targets face substantial financial penalties.
Speaking yesterday (May 23), Hawes said that when the mandate was originally introduced, it was done so ‘with the best of intentions’.
He added: ‘Energy costs were much, much lower than they are now but [since the outbreak of war in Ukraine they] have shot up and they’ve remained higher.
‘It was assumed that EVs and ICE vehicles would be at price parity by now. We’re not, and most forecasts suggest that it’s probably going to be about 2030 before we get to cost parity.
‘Battery costs are 31% higher than we thought they would be by now, and obviously, public charging is 140 per cent higher than five years ago.
‘With those sorts of obstacles, it’s that much harder to get the entire market to move.’
Hawes added that, as a result, the SMMT was calling for a review to ‘reflect natural remands more in terms of where the regulation is’.
