The UK may cut its 2030 EV sales target from 80% to 50% after carmakers warned of costs and job risks. The review, open through October, keeps the 2030 petrol car ban intact.
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The UK government is considering cutting its electric vehicle sales mandate nearly in half, dropping the 2030 target from 80% of all new car sales to as low as 50%. The review, launched Friday, follows months of pressure from car makers who warned the current pace would cost too much and put jobs at risk.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the government will consult on the proposed changes until late October. “The end goal hasn't changed – but we need to take business with us on the journey,” she said in a statement. The outright ban on selling new pure petrol or diesel cars by 2030 remains in place, a Labour manifesto pledge.
Under the current Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate, the required EV share rises annually from 33% in 2026 to 80% by 2030. Cutting that figure to 50% would mean the other half of sales could be hybrids, effectively softening the transition without scrapping the ban entirely. Another option on the table keeps the 80% target but extends compliance flexibility as far as 2034.
The policy has shifted repeatedly. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson first announced a 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel sales. His successor Rishi Sunak pushed the ban to 2035 and introduced the gradual ZEV targets Labour is now reviewing. Labour previously accused the Tories of “moving goalposts on phase out dates.”
Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, the main industry lobby group, called the review “a timely opportunity to adjust the transition so it works for all.” He said the ZEV mandate was “conceived under vastly different conditions,” without specifying which conditions had changed.
Environmental groups pushed back hard. Tanya Sinclair, head of industry group Electric Vehicles UK, criticised the government for “asking whether we should extend the availability of polluting vehicles amid our hottest summer on record.” Gurjeet Grewal, chief of Octopus Electric Vehicles, said weakening the mandate “would send exactly the wrong signal, just as EVs are becoming some of the best-value cars on the road.” The Green Alliance said watering down targets would “lock in avoidable emissions while undermining the certainty manufacturers need to invest.”
A longer-term deadline for phasing out new hybrid sales remains set for 2035. The consultation runs through October.
For context, the EU recently watered down its own plans to end new petrol and diesel car sales by 2035. The UK’s review puts it on a similar trajectory, even as the government insists the 2030 ban itself is not up for debate.
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