The UK’s zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate that can force all manufacturers to make cars and vans emission free by 2035 is now law
The ZEV mandate sets out the share of latest zero emission cars and vans manufacturers can be required to supply every year as much as 2030.
It targets 80% of latest cars and 70% of latest vans sold in Great Britain to be zero emission by 2030, increasing to 100% by 2035.
Technology and decarbonisation minister Anthony Browne said the brand new laws will help households make the switch to electric, supporting growth of EV sales within the second-hand market and incentivising charging to roll out more widely across the country.
He noted that this had led the Government to last yr take the ‘pragmatic’ decision to delay the ban on recent diesel and petrol cars from 2030 to 2035, falling in to line with other major economies resembling France, Germany, Sweden and Canada, adding that this might allow time for consumers to make the selection to modify to electric, and to level up charging infrastructure.
“We’re providing investment certainty for the charging sector to expand our charging network which has already grown by 44% since this time last yr. This may support the continually growing variety of EVs within the UK, which currently account for over 16% of the brand new UK automobile market,” he said.
Sue Robinson, chief executive of the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) which represents automobile and business retailers across the UK commented: “The introduction of the ZEV mandate into law can be a key policy in driving electric vehicle uptake and can heavily influence the automotive retail sector in its ongoing transition to electric.”
She said the automotive retailing sector has been supportive of the Government’s targets for net-zero in 2050 and as such has invested heavily in driving the electrification of the vehicle parc. “Nevertheless,” she noted, “there remains to be more that should be done by government to take care of the positive electric vehicle trajectory in registrations and increase public confidence in these greener, cleaner vehicle types.”
The minister noted that the ZEV Mandate should offer industry renewed confidence to take a position in national infrastructure and that the agreement struck last month between the UK and EU to increase trade rules on electric vehicles will save each manufacturers and consumers as much as £4.3 billion in additional costs and providing long-term certainty for industry.
Recent research by the RAC nonetheless reveals that the UK had did not hit its goal of getting six or more rapid or ultra-rapid electric vehicle chargers at every motorway service area in England by the top of 2023, with the variety of rapid chargers growing from just 27 (23%) at the top of April.
Commenting NFDA’s Robinson said: “The recent news that government has missed its own goal of six rapid or ultra-rapid chargers at every motorway service station in England by the top of 2023 will do the industry no favours in its attempts to ease the minds of consumers.”
The Government insists though that the UK’s charging network continues to grow at pace – with over 50,000 public chargepoints putting the country well on the right track to achieve 300,000 chargepoints by 2030. The Government said it had also launched a £70 million pilot to support the deployment of ultra-rapid charging points at motorway service areas.
The Government added that the rollout of EV infrastructure through the primary round of the £381 million Local EV Infrastructure Fund could deliver tens of hundreds more chargepoints in local areas across England and enable charging for drivers without off-street parking.
Government schemes to lower the upfront and running costs of owning an EV includes the plug-in van grant of as much as £2,500 for small vans and £5,000 for big vans until no less than 2025 and £350 off the associated fee of homeplace chargepoints for people living in flats would also support the patron switch to electric vehicle uptake.
Andrew Brem, general manager of Uber UK, said: “London is Uber’s top city for EVs worldwide, with well over 10,000 electric vehicles on the platform within the capital. Nevertheless, the provision and up-front cost of EVs can still be a barrier for a lot of drivers. The ZEV mandate coming into force is a big moment which can help to drive down the prices of EVs and increase supply – accelerating the uptake of EVs over the subsequent decade.”
NFDA also noted that the ZEV mandate will only apply to England, Wales and Scotland and never Northern Ireland while Northern Ireland currently has lower than 1% of UK’s total charging points with a lot of them being older with reliability issues. “As such, there may be definitely a cause for concern in that Northern Ireland will fall further behind the remainder of the UK.” it said.
Commenting, Auto Trader’s editorial director Erin Baker said: “Whilst the ZEV mandate requires 22% of manufacturer recent automobile sales to be electric, data shows that the present average share of EV sales across brands is just circa 16%, and for some, it’s as little as 3%.
“Subsequently, manufacturers have already been actively stimulating consumer demand by offering a plethora of monetary incentives, which we’re seeing play through on our marketplace with 16% more enquiries for brand new EVs being sent to retailers.
“The major stumbling block to interest in electric cars is similar as a decade ago – price. In order the value of each recent and pre-loved electric cars begins to diminish, we’re more likely to see more consumers start their electric journey.”
Indeed, in NFDA’s recent Consumer Attitude Survey, 62% of over 800 driving licence holders across the UK attributed cost while 57% attributed lack of charging facilities within the UK as to why they weren’t keen on purchasing an electrical vehicle.
This Article First Appeared At www.am-online.com
