Car makers successfully argued against small EV incentives

Car makers in the UK successfully argued against proposed incentives within the UK’s new ZEV mandate that would have encouraged the sales of cheaper, more efficient electric cars, as well as longer-range ones.

The ZEV mandate forces car makers to sell ever increasing percentages of EVs, starting this year at 22%. Last year, EV sales stood at 16.5% of the total, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). 

The system as introduced uses a straightforward format that counts one EV as one credit, after car makers lobbied for the government to remove wider proposals that would award a greater number of credits to cars with better battery efficiency, lighter weight or a smaller footprint.

That would have encouraged a faster roll-out of smaller, cheaper EVs as car makers balanced EVs against the sale of more profitable combustion-engined models.

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