Transition to zero emission vehicle by 2035 becomes law

The UK’s zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate that will force all manufacturers to make cars and vans emission free by 2035 is now law

The ZEV mandate sets out the percentage of new zero emission cars and vans manufacturers will be required to produce each year up to 2030.

It targets 80% of new cars and 70% of new vans sold in Great Britain to be zero emission by 2030, increasing to 100% by 2035.

Technology and decarbonisation minister Anthony Browne said the new legislation will help households make the switch to electric, supporting growth of EV sales in the second-hand market and incentivising charging to roll out more widely across the country.

He noted that this had led the Government to last year take the 'pragmatic' decision to delay the ban on new diesel and petrol cars from 2030 to 2035, falling in to line with other major economies such as France, Germany, Sweden and Canada, adding that this would allow time for consumers to make the choice to switch to electric, and to level up charging infrastructure.

“We are providing investment certainty for the charging sector to expand our charging network which has already grown by 44% since this time last year. This will support the constantly growing number of EVs in the UK, which currently account for over 16% of the new UK car market,” he said.

Sue Robinson, chief executive of the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) which represents car and commercial retailers across the UK commented: “The introduction of the ZEV mandate into law will be a key policy in driving electric vehicle uptake and will heavily influence the automotive retail sector in its ongoing transition to electric."

She said the automotive retailing sector has been supportive of the Government’s targets for net-zero in 2050 and as such has invested heavily in driving the electrification of the vehicle parc. “Nevertheless," she noted, "there is still more that needs to be done by government to maintain the positive electric vehicle trajectory in registrations and increase public confidence in these greener, cleaner vehicle types."

The minister noted that the ZEV Mandate should offer industry renewed confidence to invest in national infrastructure and that the agreement struck last month between the UK and EU to extend trade rules on electric vehicles will save both manufacturers and consumers up to £4.3 billion in additional costs and providing long-term certainty for industry.

New research by the RAC however reveals that the UK had failed to hit its target of having six or more rapid or ultra-rapid electric vehicle chargers at every motorway service area in England by the end of 2023, with the number of rapid chargers growing from just 27 (23%) at the end of April.

Commenting NFDA’s Robinson said: “The recent news that government has missed its own target of six rapid or ultra-rapid chargers at every motorway service station in England by the end of 2023 will do the industry no favours in its attempts to ease the minds of consumers.”

The Government insists though that the UK’s charging network continues to grow at pace – with over 50,000 public chargepoints putting the country well on track to reach 300,000 chargepoints by 2030. The Government said it had also launched a £70 million pilot to support the deployment of ultra-rapid charging points at motorway service areas.

The Government added that the rollout of EV infrastructure through the first round of the £381 million Local EV Infrastructure Fund could deliver tens of thousands more chargepoints in local areas across England and enable charging for drivers without off-street parking.

Government schemes to lower the upfront and running costs of owning an EV includes the plug-in van grant of up to £2,500 for small vans and £5,000 for large vans until at least 2025 and £350 off the cost of homeplace chargepoints for people living in flats would also support the consumer switch to electric vehicle uptake. 

Andrew Brem, general manager of Uber UK, said: “London is Uber’s top city for EVs worldwide, with well over 10,000 electric vehicles on the platform in the capital. However, the availability and up-front cost of EVs can still be a barrier for many drivers. The ZEV mandate coming into force is a significant moment which will help to drive down the costs of EVs and increase supply – accelerating the uptake of EVs over the next decade.”

NFDA also noted that the ZEV mandate will only apply to England, Wales and Scotland and not Northern Ireland while Northern Ireland currently has less than 1% of UK’s total charging points with many of them being older with reliability issues. "As such, there is certainly a cause for concern in that Northern Ireland will fall further behind the rest of the UK." it said.

Commenting, Auto Trader’s editorial director Erin Baker said: “Whilst the ZEV mandate requires 22% of manufacturer new car sales to be electric, data shows that the current average share of EV sales across brands is just circa 16%, and for some, it’s as low as 3%.

"Therefore, manufacturers have already been actively stimulating consumer demand by offering a plethora of financial incentives, which we’re seeing play through on our marketplace with 16% more enquiries for new EVs being sent to retailers.

“The main stumbling block to interest in electric cars is the same as a decade ago - price. So as the price of both new and pre-loved electric cars begins to decrease, we’re likely to see more consumers start their electric journey.”

Indeed, in NFDA’s recent Consumer Attitude Survey, 62% of over 800 driving licence holders across the UK attributed cost while 57% attributed lack of charging facilities in the UK as to why they were not interested in purchasing an electric vehicle.