UK urged not to further weaken EV rules as CO2 impact revealed
Summary
Campaigners warn the UK government not to weaken rules that require more electric cars to be sold, because changes already made could cause extra carbon emissions by 2030. The current rules, called the zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate, push carmakers to increase electric car sales, but recent changes have allowed more petrol and hybrid cars, which leads to more pollution and harms the electric car charging industry’s investments.Key Facts
- The UK’s ZEV mandate, started in 2023, aims for 80% of car sales to be electric by 2030.
- Last year, the rules were weakened by adding “flexibilities” that let carmakers sell more petrol and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs).
- Sales of PHEVs have risen by 48% this year as a result of those changes.
- Extra petrol and diesel driving caused by the rule changes could add 17 million tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by 2030.
- This extra pollution equals all Ryanair flights from Europe in one year or the emissions of a small country like Croatia.
- The Department for Transport says the increase in petrol use is mostly due to the ZEV mandate changes.
- The charging industry is worried that fewer electric cars mean less money to build and maintain charging stations.
- Carmakers want the government to weaken the rules again, saying current targets are too hard to meet.
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