UK May Cut Electric Vehicle Sales Target from 80% to 50% by 2030

The UK government has launched a consultation on potentially cutting the country's electric vehicle sales mandate, which currently requires 80 percent of new cars to be fully electric by 2030, to as low as 50 percent.

Pressure from car makers

The review follows sustained pressure from the automotive industry, which warned that the current Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate would cost too much and put jobs at risk. The government has said it is consulting on reducing the mandatory share to 50 percent, with hybrid vehicles making up the other 50 percent of sales.

An alternative option would keep the 80 percent target but extend the deadline to 2034 instead of 2030. A longer-term deadline for phasing out new hybrid vehicle sales in 2035 would remain in place regardless of which option is chosen.

Ban on petrol and diesel unchanged

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander stressed that the existing ban on selling new purely petrol or diesel cars after 2030 will stay in force. The consultation is open until late October. Environmental groups have warned that weakening the target undermines the UK's long-term climate commitments.

The ZEV mandate was originally designed to ramp up from 33 percent of sales in 2026 to 80 percent by 2030. The policy has a turbulent history: Boris Johnson first announced a 2030 phase-out date for petrol and diesel cars, Rishi Sunak pushed it back to 2035, and Labour reinstated the 2030 ban after its election victory.