UK Proposes Slashing 2030 Electric Car Sales Target to as Low as 50%
The UK government launched a consultation on Friday proposing to cut the 2030 target for new electric vehicles (EVs) to as little as 50% of all new cars sold, down from the 80% required under existing rules. The consultation, published under Andy Burnham's government, lays out four options: leaving the 2030 EV sales target unchanged at 80%, or reducing it to 70%, 60%, or 50% (The Guardian).
The announcement landed hours after the UK recorded its hottest day of the year so far, the fifth hottest ever documented. UK electric car sales, meanwhile, rose by 29% in the year of the consultation's launch.
Under the current Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate, carmakers must sell an increasing share of pure electric cars each year or face fines. The targets step up from 33% in 2026 to 80% in 2030, having started at 22% of an automaker's new car sales in 2024. The sale of new purely petrol and diesel cars is due to be banned from 2030, with all new cars and vans required to be fully zero emission by 2035.
This is the second time the Labour government has weakened EV targets. It previously introduced loopholes known as "flexibilities" that allowed a greater share of plug-in hybrid vehicles to count toward compliance. The automotive industry has argued that the ZEV mandate forces manufacturers to sell electric cars at steep discounts and has warned of job losses or UK factory closures if the rules remain unchanged.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the targets should be kept under review to ensure they are "practical" and to "back British industry," while maintaining that the end goal of decarbonisation has not changed.
The proposed easing is opposed by climate campaigners and by the electric car charging industry, which plans to invest billions of pounds in charge-point infrastructure across the country. The Climate Change Committee, the UK's independent climate advisory body, has identified the switch to EVs as the single biggest contributor to cutting UK carbon pollution over the next decade.
The broader context here is one of tension between industrial policy and climate ambition. The ZEV mandate was originally designed through consultations that set annual uptake targets from 2024 to 2035, giving automakers a predictable regulatory glide path toward decarbonisation. Two rounds of dilution in quick succession raise questions about the durability of that regulatory certainty. For investors in charging infrastructure, a downward revision of the 2030 target complicates the demand projections underpinning billions in planned capital expenditure. For automakers, the relief may be partial: lower targets reduce the near-term compliance pressure, but the 2035 end date for all new non-zero-emission vehicles remains in statute.
The government's position also carries political weight. The consultation's simultaneous reconfirmation of the 2030 phase-out of new purely internal combustion engine cars, alongside a proposal to slash the interim EV sales benchmark, creates a gap between the headline ban and the mechanism designed to deliver it. Think of it as setting a finish line but shortening the runway leading up to it: if the 2030 target is cut to 50%, manufacturers would face a sharp jump from that level to a full zero-emission requirement by 2035, compressing the transition into a narrower window.
Separately, the government confirmed it will introduce electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) from April 2028, set at half the equivalent rate of the standard Vehicle Excise Duty, adding a new cost consideration for prospective EV buyers.
What remains unresolved is where the final figure lands. The consultation invites responses across the full range of options, and the outcome will shape not only the trajectory of UK road transport emissions but also the investment decisions of automakers, charging-network operators, and consumers weighing the total cost of EV ownership. The government has framed flexibility as pragmatism. Its critics see it as erosion of the framework the UK built to meet its legally binding carbon budgets.
