Government and industry meet over 2030 ICE vehicle ban

The Transport Secretary and Business Secretary have met with the automotive industry on the phasing out of new petrol and diesel vehicles and the ZEV Mandate.

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh and Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds hosted the roundtable with automotive and charging industry leaders, with representatives from SMMT, Tesla, Nissan, Ford, Volkswagen Group, Stellantis, BMW, Toyota, ChargeUK, and BVRLA in attendance.

The government said it is committed to reinstating the 2030 phase out of cars "solely powered by internal combustion engines", and delivering the ZEV transition in a way that also "supports UK economic growth".

To this effect, it said it will set out further details in due course, and will be launching a consultation on how the new phase out date will work for cars and vans.

The crunch talks follow calls from some automotive companies expressing concerns that the ZEV mandate risk damaging the industry without the right incentives.

The ZEV mandate requires more than a fifth (22%) of cars and 10% of vans sold by manufacturers to be electric this year, with the targets becoming tougher each year ahead of the 2030. Manufacturers face penalities if they do not meet the targets.

A Government spokesperson said: “Ministers from across Government have met with automotive sector and industry representatives to discuss the transition to electric vehicles, and how the Government can support continued growth of the sector.

“Recognising the global challenges the industry has been facing, ministers underlined the Government’s commitment to working constructively and in close partnership with the sector as we support the transition to electric vehicles by 2030.

“The UK automotive sector now has the fastest growth of zero emission vehicles of any major European market, and we’re providing more than £2.3 billion to support industry and consumers in making the switch, with 57 new public electric vehicle chargers added on average each day.”

Vicky Read, CEO of ChargeUK said, “The charging industry is a UK growth story, we are delivering the vital infrastructure necessary for the EV transition at pace and scale.

“ChargeUK members are putting a new charge point in the ground every 25 minutes on average, and they are committed to invest over £6 billion up to 2030 ensuring we stay ahead of demand.

“That progress – building an entire industry practically from scratch over 10 years – was acknowledged by government this afternoon and everyone is agreed that uncertainty is the enemy of the EV transition and threatens investment on all sides.

“We will study the forthcoming consultation closely and continue to make the case to retain what we already have – a strong ZEV mandate that works.”

Dominic Phinn, Head of Transport at Climate Group, says: “We strongly support the UK Government’s decision to hold the line on the ZEV Mandate against coordinated, last-minute lobbying efforts by a small number of companies.

"The strong show of corporate support we’re seeing for the legislation – from across sectors and the country – demonstrates just how important leading British companies think the Mandate is to deliver their own electrification targets, decarbonise Britain, and build a greener economy.

"There is absolutely no justification for tinkering with the ground-breaking tool that has put the UK in the fast lane of the global EV transition. Carmakers face a simple choice: scale up EV manufacture now and seize a huge economic opportunity – or be left behind by those who do.”