Weakening the ZEV Mandate is counterproductive – T&E

Today’s announcement that the ZEV Mandate will be weakened will hurt the UK car industry, green group T&E has said. The extended flexibilities in the law will erode the policy certainty and business case for electrification that British manufacturing must have to attract much needed investment and continue to compete globally.

The Government said it will reduce the penalties for carmakers which fail to comply with the ZEV Mandate. The deadline for carmakers to comply by borrowing compliance credits from future years, and to earn credits by reducing emissions of new combustion engine cars, will be extended from 2026 to 2029. The cap on the number of combustion engine credits that can be borrowed will be increased. Together these flexibilities could lead to hybrid and PHEVs significantly cannibalising electric sales. This is bad news for consumers as it will delay price reductions and the supply of affordable EVs.

Anna Krajinska, Director of T&E UK, said: “Weakening the ZEV Mandate over American tariffs is baffling, especially when most of our car exports to the US are still petrol and diesel. Rolling back EV targets won’t protect those exports or jobs. What the sector really needs is regulatory certainty and a robust industrial strategy to support domestic manufacturing and stay competitive as the world goes electric.”