UK carmakers want the electric car rules rewritten – here’s why

The motor industry has called for urgent reform of the UK’s Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate, days after electric cars and vans both hit record market shares in July.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders says the mandate compels manufacturers to supply electric vehicles but does nothing to create the demand for them.

It points to consumer research from Auto Trader, Deloitte and others that puts underlying appetite for battery electric cars at roughly 10% to 13%, against mandated targets of 33% this year, 38% next year and 52% by 2028.

The organisation said no manufacturer, whether UK-based or importing, considers the regulated 80% target for 2030 achievable, let alone the 95% the Climate Change Committee suggests is possible for cars and vans.

Manufacturers can close part of that gap using flexibilities built into the rules, including carbon dioxide credits, borrowing against future performance and payments to rival manufacturers or to government.

The SMMT describes these as expensive and says the design produces perverse outcomes, with firms that decarbonised earliest often facing tougher requirements than newer entrants.

It said billions are going into discounts, finance offers and marketing support to lift demand above its natural level, money it argues would otherwise fund investment in UK manufacturing.

The market is growing anyway

New car registrations rose 11.7% to 156,571 units in July, the strongest July since 2019 and an eighth consecutive month of growth.

Battery electric registrations climbed 44.5% year-on-year to a record 27.5% share, while plug-in hybrids rose 33.6% to 14.9% and hybrids grew 11.6% to 13.2%.

Petrol fell 5.2% to 40.1% of the market and diesel dropped 17.7% to 4.2%. More than 170 electric car models and over 40 electric van models are now on sale in the UK.

Light commercial vehicle registrations rose 22.0% to 28,578 units, a fourth straight month of growth, with electric van registrations up 74.1% to a record 14.7% share.

Year to date, electric vans account for 10.6% of the market, the first time the segment has reached double digits and still under half the 24% the mandate requires this year.

The SMMT’s latest outlook expects battery electric cars to take 27.4% of an anticipated 2.18 million registrations in 2026, up from an April forecast of 26.8% but short of the 33% target, and 32.1% in 2027 against 38%.

For vans it forecasts 11.5% this year and 15.9% next, which it says leaves uptake running around two years behind the regulated trajectory.

Private buyers and charging remain the obstacles

Battery electric cars hold 25.3% of the market year to date. The SMMT identifies private retail buyers as the main sticking point, with four in five still choosing a non-electric model, and says salary sacrifice schemes reach only a minority of drivers.

Department for Transport tracker research published this week again flagged driver concerns over charging cost, availability and reliability.

Provision varies sharply by region, with one public charger for every 40-plus plug-in cars in the South East and the North West against one for every nine in London.

A Vauxhall survey of local authority provision found three quarters of councils still have no accessible chargers for disabled drivers, despite on-street accessible provision doubling over the past year.

The SMMT wants targets that better reflect real demand, alongside coordinated action from government, the energy sector and charging operators to build consumer confidence.

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