Government must stand firm against calls to water down the law and instead focus on delivering a robust industrial strategy.
All car manufacturers have successfully complied with the UK’s electric car sales mandate. That’s according to a new analysis by T&E, based on 2024 car sales figures from Dataforce. Despite alarmist claims from the auto industry about potential fines, no carmaker will pay penalties, and just one, Suzuki, will need to purchase compliance credits.
The ZEV mandate accelerated electric car (BEV) market share to 19.6% in 2024, below the headline target of 22% but exceeding the 18% required for compliance when flexibilities in the law are counted. T&E said the flexibilities secured by the car industry are sufficient to ensure future compliance and the Government should resist calls to weaken the mandate further.
Anna Krajinska, Director of T&E UK, said: “Carmakers are meeting the ZEV mandate despite all the complaints. The result is a growing UK EV market and lots of cheaper models for consumers to go electric. The Government must stand firm against calls to water down the law and instead focus on delivering a robust industrial strategy for the automotive sector.”
Hyundai, Stellantis, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, SAIC, and Geely (Volvo, Lotus, Polestar) complied by both increasing EV sales and reducing the average emissions of the combustion engines they sold, the analysis finds. VW, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, Toyota, Ford, JLR (Tata Motors), Honda, Mazda, and Suzuki will need to supplement EV sales and emissions reductions by either borrowing credits from future years or purchasing them from overcompliant manufacturers.
Last month the Government launched a consultation on the ZEV mandate which included questions on flexibilities which would weaken the stringency of the ZEV mandate. T&E said it is crucial that the Government maintains the mandate’s ambition – both for consumers and regulatory certainty for the UK automotive industry. As the ZEV mandate will increase in ambition, carmakers are planning to introduce over a dozen EV models cheaper than £23,000. If the mandate is weakened, these models risk being prioritised for other markets.
Anna Krajinska said: “Backtracking now on the ZEV mandate will endanger the £23 billion in EV investments that has been committed to the UK. These investments are vital for driving economic growth and safeguarding high-quality UK automotive jobs. It would also undercut investment certainty that the charging industry needs to build out infrastructure.”
T&E analysis shows that the automotive industry met the 2024 UK Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate.
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