UK to relax 2030 EV target

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer apparently wants to relax sales targets for electric cars following pressure from industry and trade unions. A mandate that 80 per cent of new car sales must be fully electric vehicles by 2030 is to be reduced to 50 per cent.

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Image: Nissan

The UK’s ZEV Mandate (Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate) requires automotive manufacturers to annually increase the minimum percentage of new zero-emission cars sold, including battery-electric vehicles or those powered by fuel cells. However, it now appears that current targets of 80 per cent zero-emission vehicles by 2030 will be significantly reduced.

As part of the ongoing review of ZEV sales targets, the 2030 goal is now expected to be lowered to just 50 per cent. This was reported by the Sunday Times, which stated that Prime Minister Keir Starmer has made the decision. According to the report, Starmer, alongside Business Secretary Peter Kyle, has reined in Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband under pressure from the automotive industry and trade unions.

The decision is said to have been driven by fears of widespread job losses and the potential for automakers to withdraw investments from the UK. Sharon Graham, General Secretary of the Unite union, claimed last week that the ZEV mandate is “significantly contributing to the loss of automotive jobs in Britain. This is a clear fact. The targets must be radically reduced.” She also warned: “If the government sits on its hands it will be responsible for the decimation of the automotive industry.”

However, the new ZEV sales target of 50 per cent for 2030 is not yet finalised. The government will now launch a consultation to determine the revised 2030 target. This process could take months before a decision is reached; according to another BBC report, values between 50 per cent and 70 per cent are being considered.

The ZEV mandate was initially introduced in 2020 by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson. It came into force in 2024, requiring manufacturers to ensure that 22 per cent of new car sales were zero-emission vehicles in the first year. This proportion rose to 28 per cent in 2025 and 33 per cent in 2026. The target was set to increase annually thereafter, reaching 80 per cent in 2030 and 100 per cent in 2035, with no pure internal combustion engine vehicles to be sold from 2030 onwards – only electrified vehicles. However, even this target, along with the 2035 goal, could still change, particularly since the EU has also backtracked on its 100 per cent target for 2035.

thetimes.com, cardealermagazine.co.uk, cityam.co.uk, bbc.co.uk

2 Comments

about „UK to relax 2030 EV target“

Electro

16.06.2026 um 09:11

If the UK automotive industry had got behind electrification at the start, instead of trying to resist it, they wouldn't now be worried about losing jobs. Now, by lobbying to reduce EV targets, they are going to fall even further behind Nordic countries and China. It's well known that resisting change just makes you less competitive.

William Tahil

16.06.2026 um 11:45

The EV transition is an industrial revolution like the replacement of the horse with the ICE - there is a huge supply chain and industrial ecosystem involved. For the end user, they might think it's a relatively minor change, just replacing filling up the tank with recharging etc. but behind that the ICE car manufacturing industry is the biggest industry in the world. Change too fast and you put millions out of work. China was in a unique position - they just leapfrogged ICE and as millions of new urban dwellers came into the market for mobility more advanced than a bicycle for the first time, China pushed them into EVs at the same time as China gobbled up the lithium supply chain and massively subsidised CATL to go from nowhere to the largest battery manufacturer in ~5 years. They did not have a massive ICE industry to lose - or to transition - plus they are a centrally controlled economy. In any case, lithium was never going to be suitable for mass manufacture of EVs and China are now moving on to Sodium Ion because of that – the West is in a very difficult position not because it cannot innovate or produce EVs using a different technology to LiIon but because it has a huge legacy industry to manage in a socially acceptable way. It needs 30 years for ICE workers to work their way through and retire without being replaced to maintain social equilibrium or you know what the consequences of mass unemployment will be.