The UK’s Business Secretary, Peter Kyle, has been unable to offer any clarification on whether ministers will water down the ZEV (zero-emission vehicle) mandate following earlier reports that the rules are to be relaxed.
A fortnight ago a leak emerged that 2030’s target – which demands 80% of all new car sales go to pure electric vehicles – is to be reduced to just 50%, a figure Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said was the “ballpark figure” automotive firms were hoping for.
Yet speaking at the SMMT’s annual conference, Secretary of State for Business and Trade Peter Kyle was unable to confirm or deny that rumour, only saying that the mandate is “under review”, adding it “will be completed as soon as I can possibly manage”.
Both the SMMT boss and the Business Secretary reaffirmed their commitment to EV-only new-car showrooms, however, with Hawes saying the industry “remains totally committed to decarbonisation”, and Kyle insisting “it is vital to make the changes necessary to transition from gas guzzlers to zero-emission vehicles”.
Hawes cautioned that “nobody in the industry thinks we’ll get to 80% by 2030”, adding that while EV sales make up a little under 24% of the market at present (well below this year’s 33% target) research indicates that natural, unsubsidised consumer demand stands at just 12%.
Speaking at the same conference Conservative Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith took an approach at loggerheads with both Hawes and Kyle.
“When it comes to the ZEV mandate, we will scrap it,” Griffith said, adding that were his party to form the next government there will be “no arbitrary bans on internal combustion vehicles”.
Griffith dismissed EV-only rules as “dogma” that had been embraced both by politicians “and by industry themselves if we’re being honest”. He added that such policies serve to “dictate to citizens”, while also giving “advantages to overseas jobs and overseas manufacturers”.
