ZEV Mandate expectations are diluting UK’s EV adoption progress – BVRLA conference

The progress that the UK has made in electrifying its car parc has been diluted because of the unrealistic targets set by the ZEV Mandate, according to a panel at the BVRLA conference.

In a panel titled ‘The Second Half of the Decade: Ambition Under Pressure’, the panellists warned that the ZEV Mandate is pushing manufacturers to stick with targets that do not fit with current demand for electric vehicles.

Imogen Bhogal, presenter and chief content officer at the Fully Charged Show and the Everything Electric Show, said: “The success story is being ignored because the ZEV Mandate is muting the level of progress the UK made already.”

Eurig Druce, SVP and group managing director at Stellantis, said that the UK is roughly where it was expected to be with regard to the ZEV Mandate, despite the challenging backdrop with Covid-19.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT, added that Covid-19 gave consumers a different perspective on vehicles’ consumption, with the increase of working from home and a lack of travelling.

Hawes said that the UK market should focus on replacing older vehicles on the road, as the average car on the road is now 10 years old, although he said that moving over from one technology to another will never be seamless, and there will need to be compromise.

Lisa Brankin, chair and managing director at Ford, said that research and development takes a lot of time and money, so to be sustainable it must be profitable first.

She added that the challenge comes with the pace of change the industry is trying to achieve.