There’s no shame in admitting to one’s mistakes – in fact one there’s a certain honour to it – and the publication of 2025’s new-car registration figures provides the perfect opportunity for the establishment to revise the policy that surrounds electric cars.
Very briefly, the government mandated that last year 28% of all new cars sold in the UK had to be pure-electric vehicles; the market disagreed, and just 23.4% of buyers opted for this powertrain type.
This was the second year of the ZEV (zero emission vehicle) mandate, and it was also the second year it was missed, with 2024 seeing 19.6% of registrations going to EVs against a target of 22%. Clearly this trajectory ministers have foreseen is at odds with what drivers want, and every indication is that the establishment is aware of this.
The best evidence to support this comes from the horse trading written into policy, which allows car makers to escape hefty fines for missing the EV quotas by deploying a variety of methods, including buying ‘credits’ from rivals who exceed their targets, and ‘borrowing’ EV registrations from future years in the expectation these imaginary sales will manifest, however unlikely this may be.
Such fancy legislative footwork wouldn’t be necessary if ministers thought car companies would meet the ZEV mandates, which means they know firms will fail to do so, which implies they know their targets are unrealistic.
If the targets are unrealistic, it stands to reason that the destination they point toward – one comprising EV-only new-car showrooms – is also misguided. And if one can foresee one is heading towards a mistake, the only sensible option is to course correct.
Given almost half a million electric cars were registered last year there’s clearly a market for these vehicles, which have many positive attributes. But EVs also bring a number of well-documented detriments that buyers are aware of as, even with billions being thrown at them via manufacturer discounts, government grants and waived tax revenue, people prefer petrol cars, which made up almost half of all sales last year.
But they also quite like hybrids, with petrol and diesel-electric vehicles beating EVs by making up 25% of 2025’s registrations, all with minimal fuss and limited fiscal encouragement.
Rather than pulling every available level to try to make electric cars happen, the way forward should involve recognising the appetite businesses and consumers have for hybrids, then embedding these into policy and showrooms in perpetuity. Doing so would solve all manner of problems, while also demonstrating that it is possible to have a practical, evidence-based transport policy, rather than an unrealistic ideological one.
