14 hours Ago By Zachary Shahan
Okay, I’m going to split this article into two parts. The first part is based on some mainstream auto industry reporting on the topic. The second part is going to add more context.
Automakers selling cars in the UK had to reach 22% EV sales in 2024. Overall, they reached 31% in December, a new record, but reporting is that some automakers fell short of the 22% requirement for 2024. The result: fines of up to £15,000 ($18,600) per non-compliant vehicle.
Some of the automakers are “turning to a credits-trading system or planning to exceed future quotas to mitigate penalties,” Autoblog reports. Broadly, though, there’s a lot of muttering in the industry that they are being pushed too hard too fast and the phaseout plan to get to 100% EVs by 2030 is too aggressive. It’s all too fast for British consumers, they say.
“Businesses and fleets, not private buyers, are driving the current demand. In fact, only 10% of private buyers opted for an EV in 2024, citing concerns over affordability, charging infrastructure, and range anxiety. Mike Hawes, CEO of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, called the discounts fueling December’s EV sales unsustainable, predicting further challenges as the target rises to 28% in 2025.
” One can say that consumers need more EV choice, and can say that EVs should be cheaper there. However, choice in the UK is pretty good, and it appears automakers are already resorting to deep discounts in order to try to reach targets. Whether there isn’t more room to sacrifice big profits for more EV sales, I don’t really know.
“Stellantis, the parent company of Vauxhall, recently announced it would cease van production in Luton after 120 years, citing EV regulations as a factor. This move affects 1,100 jobs and underscores the broader economic stakes of the EV transition. “Ford, meanwhile, has also reduced its UK workforce , attributing part of the downsizing to lagging EV sales.
Despite automakers’ inability to meet the UK’s EV quota, the United Kingdom recorded some of the biggest gains in EV adoption of any European country last year.” There seems to be an assumption that the country’s EV targets are going to be weakened or watered down a bit, perhaps providing more flexibility with regards to hybrids instead of full electrics. Of course, this is not good for the climate.
Also, there’s an argument that the continued scaling up of EV sales globally will continue to quickly drive down battery costs and overall EV costs, making EVs the more and more obvious choice for consumers. And there’s a more general argument that if automakers simply try harder, they can achieve more than they believe. They can create more compelling, more competitive, higher selling electric vehicles.
Without a more detailed examination of their efforts, particularly in the UK, though, it’s hard to judge. Without a doubt, EV options are much better today than they were a few years ago, and automakers are indeed selling a ton more electric cars than even last year or the year before. Maybe automakers just need to try a little bit harder.
CleanTechnica ‘s Max Holland wrote about the UK story earlier today in his monthly report on EV sales in EV market share in the UK. Here’s what he wrote: “The UK introduced the ZEV mandate for the first time in 2024, requiring automakers to sell a headline target of ‘22% ZEVs’ over the full year. The 22% goes in quotes because it is somewhat mythical — there’s quite a lot of fudging allowed, to help the medicine go down, especially in this first year of the scheme.
One of the fudges comes from giving extra points for improved emissions from non-BEV vehicles sold (PHEVs, HEVs, and even ICE-only), and another major fudge is ZEV credit trading between manufacturers to make up for shortfalls. “The 2024 full year 19.6% BEV share, with the fudges mentioned, effectively means that the overall auto industry passed the ‘22%’ ZEV mandate’s 2024 target.
Because of this, there were plenty of ZEV credits able to be bought and sold between manufacturers, and it seems that none had to pay the government fines of up to £15,000 per vehicle. “Instead, the excess of credits means that the relative laggards like Toyota, Mazda, Ford, and Renault could simply purchase ZEV credits from the likes of Tesla and Polestar to make up their own shortfalls. “ New Automotive estimates that as of the end of December, the summed ZEV credit surplus is about twice the combined shortfall that the laggards need to make up.
This suggests that the credit’s “market price” is likely only at most a few thousand pounds per unit. Still, that’s a decent motivation for these manufacturers to improve their future performance.” In other words, the hype around automakers not hitting the 22% target is way overblown, the hype around any automakers having to pay fines up to £15,000 per vehicle is even more overblown, and it seems like another case of anti-EV hype.
This subheading summary from Autoblog is maybe not the best summary of the situation in the UK: “Automakers in the UK are grappling with substantial penalties after failing to meet ambitious electric vehicle sales targets.” For much more on UK EV sales, see our monthly UK EV sales reports from Max Holland . All of that said, the UK policy gets a lot stronger in 2025.
The EV sales mandate is 28% of an automaker’s sales, and there’s less wiggle room for selling conventional hybrids and plugin hybrids. However, really, when nearby countries like Norway and Sweden are far, far beyond this 28% EV share target, why should we pretend the UK can’t get there in 2025? There’s definitely going to be continued lobbying from automakers and automaker associations to weaken and water down the EV requirements. That’s what they do.
They want change to be slow, incremental, and almost invisible. And, as usual, they can use a little pushing in order to do better by society and protect humans more. CleanTechnica's Comment Policy LinkedIn WhatsApp Facebook Bluesky Email Reddit.
