UK petrol drivers filling up in second half of year warned over new 'mandate'

Petrol car prices could rise over government electric vehicle targets. Ford's general manager of European electric cars, Martin Sander has warned how the ZEV mandate could impact petrol drivers nationwide amid a push for net zero.

The zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate sets out the percentage of new zero emission cars and vans manufacturers will be required to produce each year up to 2030. 80% of new cars and 70% of new vans sold in Great Britain will now be zero emission by 2030, increasing to 100% by 2035.

Mr Sander said: “We can’t push EVs [electric vehicles] into the market against demand. We’re not going to pay penalties. We are not going to sell EVs at huge losses just to buy compliance. The only alternative is to take our shipments of ICE [internal combustion engine] vehicles to the UK down and sell them somewhere else.

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“I don’t know if consumers will like seeing the ICE [internal combustion engine] prices going up." Speaking at the Financial Times Future of the Car Summit in London on Tuesday, Mr Sander also said Ford would be pushing back its plans to sell only EVs in Europe by 2030.

He said the target was now 'irrelevant' due to electric car sales being 'below expectations'. The law means 22 per cent of each mainstream brand's car registrations in 2024 must be electric, scaling up to 28 per cent for next year and to 80 per cent by the end of the decade - before rising to 100 per cent from 2035.

At the time of the mandate being confirmed, Technology and Decarbonisation Minister Anthony Browne said: "Alongside us having spent more than £2 billion in the transition to electric vehicles, our zero emission vehicle mandate will further boost the economy and support manufacturers to safeguard skilled British jobs in the automotive industry."