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New rules to make all new cars and vans zero-emission by 2035 have been introduced in Britain today.
The mandate will require an increasing share of new cars and new vans sold in Britain to be zero-emission each year, hitting 80 per cent and 70 per cent respectively by 2030, and reaching 100 per cent for both by 2035.
The government described the mandate as “the most ambitious regulatory framework for the switch to [EVs] of any country in the world”.
The zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate encourages automakers to meet these targets each year for the percentage of their total annual sales that must qualify as zero-emission. For each non-ZEV sold, the automaker must have a ‘ZEV allowance’. If they sell more ZEVs than their target, they can sell, bank or convert their excess allowances. If they fall below their target, they can buy, borrow, use banked allowances, convert CO2 emissions allowances or pay a fine.
According to Dataforce research, which calculated possible fines using new registrations from the year October 2022 to September 2023, total fines could reach as high as £2.4bn in the worst-case scenario. The highest fines are likely to be paid by Ford and Toyota, followed by Land Rover, Nissan and Audi. Meanwhile, BMW, Jaguar, Mercedes and Porsche are among the automakers that already have sufficiently high electric shares to avoid fines altogether.
The ZEV mandate is limited to England, Wales and Scotland at present. The Northern Ireland Department for Infrastructure intends for Northern Ireland to align with the rest of the UK when the devolved assembly is able to pass the legislation required.
Technology and decarbonisation minister Anthony Browne said: “Alongside us having spent more than £2bn in the transition to electric vehicles, our ZEV mandate will further boost the economy and support manufacturers to safeguard skilled British jobs in the automotive industry.
“We are providing investment certainty for the charging sector to expand our charging network which has already grown by 44 per cent since this time last year. This will support the constantly growing number of EVs in the UK, which currently account for over 16 per cent of the new UK car market.”
The introduction of the mandate was welcomed by figures in the industry. Akira Kirton, vice-president at BP Pulse UK, a leading EV charging network, said: “We are pleased to host [Browne] at our most powerful EV charging hub in central London to mark the start of the ZEV mandate. This mandate instils confidence in our strategy, reaffirming our plans to invest £1bn over 10 years to develop hundreds of EV charging hubs across the country by 2030 to bolster the UK’s charging infrastructure.”
Andrew Brem, general manager of Uber UK, said: “The ZEV mandate coming into force is a significant moment which will help drive down the costs of EVs and increase supply – accelerating the uptake of EVs over the next decade.”
The introduction of the mandate comes some months after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made the controversial announcement that a ban on new internal combustion engine vehicles would be moved back from 2030 to 2035. The 2030 ban, introduced by a previous Conservative government, aimed to make the UK the first major economy to decarbonise road transport. The present government said that the “pragmatic” delay puts the UK in line with France, Germany, Sweden and Canada, although it has been criticised by the automotive industry for creating uncertainty.
