'Dramatic cut coming to ZEV Mandate targets' after PM’s intervention

ZEV Mandate targets are set to be cut in a dramatic intervention by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, reports suggest.

The Sunday Times has said that the PM will water down the targets after pressure from the industry and unions.

The requirement for 80% of new car sales to be fully electric by 2030 ‘will be reduced to 50%’, said the front page story in the weekend paper.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said the Mandate was ‘significantly contributing’ to the loss of automotive jobs in Britain.

‘This is a clear fact,’ she told the paper. ‘The targets must be radically reduced.’

The ZEV Mandate sees fines issued to car manufacturers who miss their annual quotas of electric vehicle sales at a cost of £12,000 per car.

However, last year, the car industry missed its 28% target, managing just 23.4% of new car sales as electric only.

Speaking at the end of last year, Vertu Motors CEO Robert Forrester said the government was ‘delusional’ over new electric car targets.

The boss of the last listed franchised car dealer group warned the policy risks leaving the UK isolated from the rest of the global car industry.

‘The UK is now completely out of lockstep with the rest of the world in terms of EV policy,’ he said.

‘We represent just 2% of an integrated global automotive market, yet we’ve set the tightest targets anywhere. The pressure this puts on the sector is frankly delusional.’

Report warns of electric vehicle tipping point but industry pushes back

Speaking after the release of May’s new car data earlier this month, SMMT chief Mike Hawes said: ‘The EV transition is progressing, but consumer uptake still lags behind even today’s targets, let alone the ambition set out in the latest Carbon Budget.

‘While industry shares the long-term ambition, the pathway to Net Zero must be credible. It cannot come at the cost of lost competitiveness and deindustrialisation.

‘A review of the transition is now urgent to ensure ambition matches market realities and we have a sustainable path to road transport decarbonisation.’

'Dramatic cut coming to ZEV Mandate targets' after PM’s intervention

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