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The government has announced changes to the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate. The 2030 phase-out date of new petrol and diesel car sales will remain, but hybrid cars and ICE vans can now be sold until 2035, there will be increasing ‘flexibilities’ within the mandate, and small manufacturers will be exempt.
The updated ZEV Mandate includes:
• Allowing hybrid cars – full hybrids and PHEVs including the Toyota Prius and Nissan e-Power – to be sold until 2035 – the government says “to help ease the transition and give industry more time to prepare”
• Fines for failing to meet ZEV Mandate targets will be reduced from £15,000 to £12,000 per vehicle
• Vans with an internal combustion engine (ICE) will also be allowed to be sold until 2035, alongside full hybrids and plug-in hybrid vans.
Manufacturers such as Bentley, McLaren, Aston Martin, Lotus and Caterham will be exempt from the 2030-2035 hybrid requirements, with small volume manufacturers (as opposed to micro volume manufacturers) being required to meet a ‘nominal’ reduction in CO2 across their fleets after 2030 ‘which will be agreed with them’.
There will be increasing flexibilities within the mandate for manufacturers up to 2030, so that more cars can be sold in later years when demand is higher. The details of the flexibilities include:
• Extending the current ability to borrow in 2024-26, to enable repayment through to 2030
• Extending 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
• Introducing a new flexibility by allowing for 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
From this year, the fines imposed on car makers who fail to meet the zero emission vehicle quotas set by the ZEV Mandate will be cut from £15,000 to £12,000 on every car and from £18,000 to £15,000 on every van.
The government also confirmed that from 2030 carmakers will have to make sure that overall CO2 emissions from petrol and diesel cars is 10% lower than it was in 2021.
The government also says that it will continue to boost demand for electric vehicles, on top of the £2.3 billion already being spent on boosting British manufacturing and improving charging infrastructure, and it will ‘press on’ with tax breaks worth hundreds of millions of pounds to help people switch to electric vehicles – but it doesn’t provide specific details of what it will do to continue to boost demand. There’s been no confirmation about reducing VAT on EVs or on public charging.
There’s no mention of changing the ‘expensive car supplement’ for EVs; on 1 April 2025 EVs became liable for VED, or road tax, and also the expensive car supplement. From 1 April 2025, the standard VED rate for all cars is £195 per year after the first year of ownership. Cars registered on or after 1 April 2025 with a list price of more than £40,000 will also pay an additional £425 from years two to six, so VED and the expensive car supplement would mean that drivers of EVs with a purchase price of over £40,000 will pay a total of £620 per year after year one, or £3,100 over six years.
Another issue is clarifying the detailed technical definition of what a full hybrid is. The DVLA currently includes mild hybrids within its hybrid category, even though a full hybrid can drive a short distance on electric power, but a mild hybrid can’t drive any distance on electric.
Responding to the Government’s changes to the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate, Matthew Adams – Head of Transport and Innovation at the Renewable Energy Association (REA) – said: “Today’s announcements are disastrous for the environment and the charging sector. With the Government saying in December that real world emissions for plug-in hybrids are 243% higher than previously estimated it is clear that a decision to allow their sale until 2035 does not benefit the environment, consumers or the air they breath. Meanwhile the strengthening of flexibilities mean there is now more uncertainty than ever over how many EVs will actually be sold each year. This means that we risk seeing the Government make further concessions when they have to announce the fixed 2031-35 sales targets. Investors in the charging sector are watching. This is a terrible day for the environment, the charging sector and consumers.”
Paul Clarke, Green Car Guide’s Editor, comments: “Most car buyers are likely to prefer the driving experience, and the running cost savings, of an electric car compared to a hybrid. So although the government has changed some details of the ZEV Mandate to reduce the pressure on UK vehicle manufacturers, at a time when Trump’s tariffs create further challenges for the industry, it’s likely that consumers will still want to switch to EVs.”
There is now a wide range of electric cars on sale in the UK:
