Reports that some vehicle manufacturers plan to press the UK government on reforming the ZEV mandate are “badly timed” and “ill thought through”, according to industry lobby group ChargeUK.
It follows reports in The Financial Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian and other media outlets at the weekend that motor manufacturers are planning to use talks this week with the UK Government to push for changes.
However, according to reports on the BBC, the government has said it has no plans to change the ZEV mandate, despite the other reports stating the UK-based vehicle manufacturers will use the meeting to air their concerns on progress.
Transport secretary Louise is speaking to Nissan today (Monday 18 November), and a larger consortium across the sector are due to meet business secretary Jonathan Reynolds on Wednesday to discuss the options.
Haigh told The Times on Sunday that the government was in “listening mode” on the mandate.
It follows a letter last month ahead of the Budget from OEMs including BMW, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen writing to the chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves that the EV market share was static at around 18% of sales.
The latest figures from the SMMT reveal though that EV market in October hit a market share of 20.7%, just shy of the 22% target, and in September hit 20.5%.
The group of manufacturers have made the move following the creation of the ZEV mandate under then prime minister Boris Johnson’s plans to hit net zero by 2050, which had become a part of UK law in 2019, and were then planned in industry-specific detail in 2020.
But a review by the last Conservative administration of the legislation in September 2023, led to a shift by then prime minister Rishi Sunak to the eventual phase out date of ICE vehicles moving to 2035 from 2030, as originally legislated.
However, crucially the ZEV mandate of new vehicle 22% sales being EVs by the end of 2024 remained in place, and the current Labour administration has also called for the end date for ICE vehicles to be pushed forward again to 2030 from 2035, accelerating the time scale back to the previous legislative framework.
Vicky Read, CEO of ChargeUK said:
“These calls to weaken the targets in the ZEV mandate are badly timed and ill thought through.
“A successful transition to EVs, which benefits the economy and the environment, requires availability of both EVs and charging infrastructure. According to motor manufacturers’ own figures new EV sales rose by 24% last month and second hand EV sales were up 57%. Provision of charging is also on track, with the public network growing 42% a year and a new charger installed every 25 minutes. All this growth is underpinned by the certainty that the ZEV mandate provides.
“Mess around with those targets and billions of pounds of private investment earmarked for the charge point rollout is in danger of being withdrawn, endangering tens of thousands of jobs, undermining economic growth and undoing the UK’s position as one of the world’s net zero leaders.
“The government must hold its nerve and use next week’s meeting to signal ongoing support for a policy that is evidently working.”
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