Zero Emissions Vehicle mandate requires ‘review’, says SMMT boss

The current Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) mandate needs to be reviewed if EV adoption is to be boosted.

That’s according to Mike Hawes, chief executive officer of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), who added that the UK was in a ‘very different place’ when the mandate was first introduced in 2024.

Under the schedule, legally binding targets were set for car and van manufacturers, requiring them to sell a certain proportion of electric vehicles or face fines. The mandate currently stipulates that 80 per cent of the cars that manufacturers sell by 20230 should be EV, rising to 100 per cent by 2035.

Speaking today, Hawes said that when the mandate was originally introduced, it was done so ‘with the best of intentions’.

“Energy costs were much, much lower than they are now but [since the outbreak of war in Ukraine they] have shot up and they’ve remained higher.

“It was assumed that EVs and ICE vehicles would be at price parity by now. We’re not, and most forecasts suggest that it’s probably going to be about 2030 before we get to cost parity. Battery costs are 31 per cent higher than we thought they would be by now, and obviously, public charging is 140 per cent higher than five years ago.

“With those sorts of obstacles, it’s that much harder to get the entire market to move.”

Hawes added that, as a result, the SMMT was calling for a review to ‘reflect natural remands more in terms of where the regulation is.”