The UK government has officially launched a fast-track consultation to review its legally binding electric vehicle sales targets, bowing to mounting pressure from the automotive sector. The consultation
The UK government has officially launched a fast-track consultation to review its legally binding electric vehicle sales targets, bowing to mounting pressure from the automotive sector.
The consultation evaluates the existing ZEV mandate and sets out alternative, lower sales targets in a move to balance carbon reduction with international competition, energy price increases, and slower-than-expected consumer demand.
The consultation – run jointly by the Department for Transport (DfT), Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) – makes it clear that new petrol and diesel cars will still be phased out by 2030, and all new cars and vans will need to be fully zero emission by 2035.
To support these existing legally binding targets, the consultation asks for views on how the UK gets there and whether the existing annual targets for manufacturers remain appropriate, under the Vehicle Emissions Trading Schemes (VETS) Order, known as the UK’s ZEV mandate.
The mandate is a legally binding policy that requires car and van manufacturers to sell a rising, minimum percentage of zero-emission vehicles, mostly fully electric vehicles, each year, while incorporating compliance flexibilities such as credit trading, banking, and borrowing to help brands meet their quotas. It was officially introduced and passed into law in January 2024.
The required percentage of zero-emission vehicles increases incrementally each year. For 2026, the target for cars is 33%, followed by 80% by 2030 and 100% by 2035, after which point everything sold new must be entirely zero-emission.
Van targets are softer but of far more concern due to far lower demand for eLCVs amid operational challenges for businesses. The targets are set at 24% for 2026, 46% by 2028 and 70% by 2030.
The mid-point review follows a previous review in 2025 that introduced new flexibilities while also allowing new hybrid cars on sale until 2035 along with ICE vans. It also delivers on the long-standing commitment to review the Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate by 2027.
For passenger cars, the consultation explores four alternative pathways to ease annual targets through 2030, in addition to the current ZEV mandate that enforces an 80% headline sales target. These alternatives include lowering targets starting in 2027 to reach 70% by 2030, a gradual trajectory scaling to 60% by 2030 and a lower-trajectory proposal aiming for a 50% target. It also looks at maintaining the 80% headline ZEV target by 2030 but with extended flexibilities.
The consultation also explores the ‘PHEV Loophole’. New plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) have seen rapid market growth. New entrants are using a ‘utility factor’ flexibility to offset ZEV targets through hybrid sales rather than true zero-emission deployment, which risks eroding expected carbon savings, the Government says.
On the van side, the Department for Transport is also consulting on four alternatives to the current 70% ZEV van sales target for 2030, aimed at easing compliance for manufacturers. Options one, two and three propose lower 2030 headline targets (60%, 50% and 40%, respectively) and steeper post-2030 growth, while option 4 maintains the 70% target but extends key flexibilities to 2034.
The review also looks at regulatory flexibilities to assess whether existing mechanisms (such as banking, borrowing future allowances, and converting CO2 over-performance into ZEV credits) should be extended or altered.
The consultation seeks to counter international trade concerns, addressing the EU’s proposed ‘Made in Europe’ policy and industrial super-credits, which could disadvantage UK automotive manufacturing if excluded.
The review follows weeks of escalating tension, capped by a parliamentary committee warning that the current trajectory poses an “existential risk” to the British car industry.
However, ministers face a delicate balancing act, as charging infrastructure networks caution that watering down targets could slam the brakes on billions of pounds in private charging sector investments, while eco and climate-focused organisations have warned that slower targets will add millions of tonnes of avoidable carbon emissions to the atmosphere and also lock British drivers into high petrol prices for longer.
The consultation comes as the UK’s transition to cleaner transport continues to gather pace. July recorded the strongest new car market since 2019, driven by growing demand for electric vehicles. More than one in four new cars sold are now electric, EV sales were up 45% on July last year, and over two million electric vehicles are now registered on UK roads.
The Government’s Electric Car Grant, which offers up to £3,750 off the cost of a new EV, has already helped over 160,000 drivers buy an EV since it launched last July. Drivers who make the switch can save up to £1,400 on running costs each year, helping to give families breathing space on the cost of living and put money back in people’s pockets.
The Mandate is already helping deliver these savings for working people, by increasing EV availability and at more competitive prices – industry data shows new models are becoming increasingly comparable in price to petrol and diesel vehicles.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: “The UK EV market is strong – sales are up, British manufacturers and charge point operators are investing billions, alongside our backing of £7.5bn, including our Electric Car Grant that has helped over 160,000 people make the switch.
“It’s right we keep targets under review to ensure they’re practical and back British industry. The end goal hasn’t changed – but we need to take business with us on the journey, and that’s exactly what we’re doing today, by making sure industry has the chance to shape how we get there.”
The DfT also said that manufacturers are currently on track to meet their 2025 targets and have built-in flexibilities to help them do so. But in the context of challenging and complex global economic conditions, including supply chain disruption and tariff and trade uncertainty, the UK is reviewing targets to ensure they remain pro-business and grounded in the real-world.
Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “The UK’s automotive sector is vital to our economy and future growth, and we’re determined to keep it that way as we get on with reindustrialising Britain to deliver good growth in every postcode.
“This consultation is about listening to industry, examining the evidence and making sure the Mandate continues supporting investment, innovation and competitiveness, so Britain’s car sector can thrive.”
The Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT) – which has vigorously campaigned for changes within the ZEV mandate, said that because the ZEV mandate was designed under much different economic conditions, this timely review offers a welcome opportunity to recalibrate the transition for everyone involved.
Mike Hawes, chief executive, said this means a “commercially sustainable transition which supports UK competitiveness, investment and jobs whilst delivering greater choice and affordability for motorists – the sooner, the better”.
And Sue Robinson, chief executive of the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA), said: “The review of the ZEV Mandate is a timely opportunity to consider how the transition can work effectively for the whole automotive sector. The industry has made significant progress in increasing the availability and choice of electric vehicles, but the market must remain commercially sustainable.
“The results from the consultation need to ensure consumers have the choice and affordability needed to make the transition. Franchised retailers are playing a vital role in this process and have a clear understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing customers.”
The British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) also welcomed the ZEV mandate consultation as a critical moment to balance environmental ambition with current market realities.
Toby Poston, chief executive, said: “BVRLA members have already invested more than £36bn in 750,000 electric vehicles and have been the driving force behind the UK’s shift to electric mobility. We will engage fully with this consultation, representing members from across the sector and ensuring Government understands where policy is working, where greater support is needed, and how we can keep the transition moving with confidence.”
But the EV and charging sector leaders have urged the Government to hold the line on ZEV mandate as new polling shows that only a minority of the public want the transition slowed.
The SMMT and trades unions have said that thousands of jobs are at risk if the mandate remains in its current format.
But ChargeUK, the official trade association representing the EV charging infrastructure industry in the UK, has countered that tens of thousands of jobs are at risk from a slower transition, estimating that a stable mandate and wider transport electrification could create 334,000 jobs and deliver £385bn in value to the UK economy.
Delvin Lane, CEO of charging firm InstaVolt, said: “Ultra-rapid charging investment doesn’t happen on the back of uncertainty. We’ve invested hundreds of millions of pounds into the UK’s charging network because government policy gave us a clear runway to plan against. Softening the mandate at this stage risks spooking exactly the private capital that’s been building the infrastructure this transition depends on.”
Gurjeet Grewal, CEO, Octopus Electric Vehicles, said: “The ZEV mandate is working – giving manufacturers confidence to invest and drivers confidence to switch. Weakening it now would send exactly the wrong signal, just as EVs are becoming some of the best-value cars on the road.”
And Tanya Sinclair, CEO of Electric Vehicles UK, said: “There is a remarkable cognitive dissonance in a government who is asking whether we should extend the availability of polluting vehicles amid our hottest summer on record.
“It hasn’t rained for weeks, our ground is parched, air quality is poor. Electric vehicles are the most powerful public health and climate change intervention we have to mitigate these changes, as much as we’re able.
“And to top it off, they are cheaper to buy and drive, and fantastically equipped with the latest tech. It’s all upside, so why isn’t this government doing everything in its power to enable their uptake?”
The consultation will run until 23 October 2026 and calls on vehicle manufacturers, suppliers, charge point operators, dealers, consumers and communities for their views.
