Labour has confirmed a review of the UK's electric Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) mandate targets following a new consultation, a move that has been branded a complete joke that everyone saw coming. The suggestion that 80% of car sales could be EVs by 2030 was always ambitious, with electric cars accounting for just 27.5% of sales in July, while petrol remained the most dominant fuel type, making up over 40% of the market.
Industry pressure and new options
Manufacturers and the car industry had been waving the red flag for too long for the calls to be ignored. A 50% EV sales target by 2030, one of the Department for Transport's new options, is considered much more achievable.
Industry experts told the reporter back in 2024 that the current target had no chance of working, and that the can would inevitably be kicked down the road.
Hypocrisy over goalposts
The U-turn looks hypocritical, as just last year Labour openly criticised Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives for changing the ZEV Mandate targets. Ministers claimed the previous Government had caused “significant harm to the industry”, accusing them of “moving the goalposts” which had created doubt for investors.
The U-turn will be welcomed by road users still unsure about making the transition and those who feel an open market is the best way to decide if EVs are the way to go.
Reaction from industry groups
Octopus Electric Vehicles have claimed that weakening the Mandate would send exactly the wrong signal. ChargeUK has suggested the move “threatens billions in charging investment” and could “entirely upend the UK’s reindustrialisation plans”.
The writing has been on the wall for years, and Labour, it seems, has only just woken up to reality.
