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The mandate requires at least 28 per cent of cars sold to be zero-emission
Neil Lancefield Monday 22 December 2025 00:01 GMT- Bookmark
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The UK car industry is on track to meet the government’s electric vehicle (EV) sales requirement for 2025, according to new analysis.
Research by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) think tank found that flexibilities in the zero-emission vehicle (Zev) mandate mean the sector is on track to achieve this year’s demands.
The mandate’s headline target is for at least 28 per cent of cars sold by each manufacturer to be zero-emission, which generally means pure battery electric.
Figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show these vehicles achieved a market share of 22.7 per cent during the first 11 months of the year.
However, the ECIU said the actual Zev mandate sales requirement is just 20.4 per cent, as companies also get credit for selling large numbers of lower-emission petrol and diesel cars.
The think tank’s head of transport Colin Walker said: “Despite claims that sales targets would not be hit, it seems clear that in 2025, just as last year, the industry is on track.
open image in galleryFigures suggest EV vehicles achieved a market share of 22.7 per cent during the first 11 months of the year (PA)“British drivers are increasingly choosing to switch to electric, so much so that, of the world’s largest car markets, the UK is now second only to China in the proportion of drivers buying new EVs.
“Be they new cars or regular families going electric on the second-hand market, British EV drivers are saving hundreds, even thousands, of pounds a year.”
Last week, the European Commission watered down its total ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2035.
The new plan is for 90 per cent of new cars sold from that date to be zero-emission.
The UK Government has pledged to outlaw sales of new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2030, with only zero-emission models permitted from 2035.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has said her party will abandon the policy if it wins the next election.
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, she described electric vehicle quotas as “economic self-harm”.
open image in galleryTory leader Kemi Badenoch has said her party will abandon the policy if it wins the next election (PA)Mr Walker said: “Were the UK Government to follow the EU’s lead and weaken its own Zev mandate, it would risk slowing new EV sales and stunting the growth of the second hand EV market, leaving people stuck driving dirtier and more expensive petrol cars for longer.
“This is the big risk now being faced by drivers in the EU. It’s clear the world is only going in one direction on electric cars.
“Slipping into the slow lane is a recipe for getting left behind.”
Ginny Buckley, the chief executive of EV buying advice website Electrifying.com, said Brexit gives the UK “the freedom to take a different path from the EU”, particularly where the latter’s policy “risks slowing progress”.
She continued: “Diluting the 2035 policy now would hand an even greater advantage to competitors in China and South Korea, who are accelerating their EV transition.”
Ben Nelmes, chief executive of environmental consultancy New AutoMotive, said the UK’s electric car targets are “pragmatic and ambitious”.
He added: “It would be a profound mistake for UK ministers to repeat the EU’s mistake by abruptly changing these rules.”
SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said carmakers have made “massive efforts to comply” with the mandate including discounting EVs, which has had a “huge cost to the industry” and is “unsustainable in the long term”.
He urged the Government to ensure the UK’s transition to electric motoring supports “consumer confidence, the UK’s attractiveness as a place to invest, and overall economic growth”.
A government spokesperson said the analysis “clearly shows our approach is working” to encouraging the switch to EVs.
She added: “Our commitment to phase out the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2035 is giving industry the certainty it needs.”
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