THE Government is under pressure to relax the rules around the ZEV mandate, according to recent reports.
On Saturday the Financial Times reported that Nissan was ‘poised to warn ministers that the UK automobile industry had reached a “crisis point” with jobs and investment at risk’ if the rules were not relaxed.
In a Sunday LBC radio interview, transport secretary Louise Haigh confirmed that she was attending a bilateral meeting with Nissan today (18 November) and that she and the business secretary Jonathan Reynolds were to meet with the automotive industry on Wednesday.
The ZEV mandate sets a stepped minimum electric car sales annual target to be met by OEMs, starting with a requirement for 22% of new car sales and 10% of new van sales to be zero emission in 2024, rising to 100% by 2035. For every car outside of that mandate, they must pay a £15,000 fine. At the end of October UK EV car sales had an 18.1% market share and all EV vans 5.6% (SMMT).
While Haigh insisted that the targets would not be relaxed, in the LBC interview she said that there were flexibilities in the current mandate, but “we want to work with the manufacturing sector about whether these are working.”
The BBC understood that one suggestion is to reduce the level of the fines, while the SMMT favours the re-introduction of EV incentives for private buyers.
Russell Hayes’ early career was 14 years of motoring journalism in print (for What Car?), television (for Top Gear), as well as online. Since 2007 he has authored 10 motoring history books on subjects including TVR, the Earls Court Motor Show, the Volkswagen Golf and the original Aston Martin V8 – see Russell Hayes on Amazon. However, he’s not forgotten how to be a motoring journalist and now writes for UK consumer motoring sites and an American classic car magazine – not to mention Broker News. When he’s not writing, Russell can be found in the cinema or planning his next travel adventure.
