automobile manufacturers will be required by law to meet sales targets for zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) under a new mandate announced by the Government.
The percentage of mandated ZEV sales has yet to be decided, with the department for carry (DfT) intending to hold a consultation on the matter. It says the aim is to “improve consumer choice” and help deliver on the commitment to end the sale of new conventional petrol and diesel automobiles by 2030, and hybrid sales by 2035.

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Greg Archer, UK director of the European Federation for carry and Environment, has been involved in talks with the DfT about the mandate ahead of the start of the consultation. He told auto express that he thought intermediate targets for makers were essential, “beginning in 2024 with a fifth of new automobiles sold being ZEVs, rising to around three quarters by 2030”.
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Archer also said “only zero-emission vehicles should count towards targets”, with no credits for hybrids, while fines for missing targets “must be more expensive than those set by the EU” to ensure makers prioritise delivering EVs to the UK.
Before the full details were revealed, AA president Edmund King said the mandate was “probably unnecessary”. Reacting to the possibility of a 20-per-cent ZEV mandate in 2024, the organisation’s head of roads policy, Jack Cousens, warned that the targets must match “manufacturing capability” and “public demand”. His biggest concern was that manufacturers would be forced to rush through electric automobiles that are “not fit for purpose” or risk financial penalties.