Confirmed: Hybrid cars to remain on sale until 2035 in UK

UK Government relaxes aspects of the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate, but remains committed to 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars…

The UK Government has confirmed it is ending the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030, with hybrids to be sold until 2035 and small manufacturers exempt from the ban.

Vans with an internal combustion engine (ICE) will be allowed to be sold until 2035, alongside full hybrids and plug-in hybrid light commercial vehicles (LCVs).

They are part of a raft of changes to the zero emissions mandate, following a government consultation, which closed in February.

The ZEV mandate required manufacturers to ensure 22% of new car sales were pure electric last year, rising to 28% this year.

Manufacturers were also targeted with ensuring 10% of all new van registrations were zero emission last year, increasing to 16% this year.

The Government says that the updated ZEV mandate increases flexibility for manufacturers to balance the annual targets against each other and avoid fines by selling more battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in later years of the mandate.

Fines for those manufacturers not able to meet ZEV mandate targets will be reduced by 20%, from £15,000 to £12,000 per car, and from £18,000 to £15,000 (18% less) for vans, with very few firms expected to incur any charges, according to the DfT.

It will extend the current ability to transfer non-ZEVs to ZEVs from 2024-26, out to 2029, giving additional flexibility to reward CO2 savings from hybrids. Caps, however, will be included to ensure credibility.

Existing CO2 test values for plug-in hybrids will continue to be used.

This, says DfT, will make it easier to use the CO2 transfer flexibility for manufacturers which sell lots of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs).