The Prime Minister has set out plans (on 7th April) to support British car brands and help ensure UK manufacturers continue to be able to export British cars built by British workers around the world.
Employing 152,000 people and adding £19 billion to the economy, the UK’s automotive industry is a huge asset to our nation.
The changes, following extensive consultation, will help the car industry by ensuring flexibilities are built into the ZEV Mandate, including increasing flexibility of the mandate up to 2030, so that more cars can be sold in later years when demand is higher.
What are the ZEV Mandate changes?
The car industry will be able to:
- extend the current ability to borrow in 2024-26, to enable repayment through to 2030.
- extend the current ability to transfer non-ZEVs to ZEVs from 2024-26, out to 2029, giving significant additional flexibility to reward CO2 savings from hybrids – caps will be included to ensure credibility.
- benefit from van to car transfer, i.e. 1 car credit will be exchanged for 0.4 van credits, and 1 van credit will be exchanged for 2.0 car credits.
- allow hybrid cars – like the Toyota Prius and Nissan e-Power – to be sold until 2035 to help ease the transition and give industry more time to prepare.
- be exempt from the 2030 phase out if they are small and micro-volume manufacturers – supercar brands including McLaren and Aston Martin – preserving some of our most iconic jewels for years to come.
- continue to sell vans with an internal combustion engine (ICE) until 2035, alongside full hybrids and plug-in hybrid vans.
These practical reforms support industry in making the UK a global automotive leader in the switch to EVs. They're designed to help industry meet the mandate, manufacture more electric vehicles and boost demand. The UK’s already the largest EV market in Europe according to figures in 2024 - and the third in the world with over 382,000 EVs sold.
Is any other government action taking place?
With a new charge-point popping up every half an hour, the government is already spending £2.3 billion on boosting British manufacturing and improving charging infrastructure, with over £6 billion of private funding lined up to be invested in the UK’s chargepoint roll-out by 2030.
The government has also reasserted its commitment to push forward tax breaks worth hundreds of millions of pounds to help people switch to electric vehicles. Demand for electric vehicles is already rising, with the latest data showing sales in March were up over 40% on last year, which will help with the transition.