Transport secretary meets with car industry to discuss 2030 petrol ban

Heidi Alexander discusses ZEV Mandate and 2030 petrol and diesel car phase out in ‘constructive’ meeting

Secretary of State for Transport Heidi Alexander held a roundtable with leading vehicle manufacturers (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Transport secretary Heidi Alexander has met with representatives of the UK car industry as the deadline for submissions to the government’s consultation on the proposed phase out of petrol and diesel cars by 2030 nears.

A Department for Transport spokesperson told The Independent: “Last week, the Transport secretary held a constructive roundtable with leading vehicle manufacturers as part of the consultation on the 2030 phase out, as we continue to listen to and work closely with industry.

“January was another record month for electric cars, with sales of zero emission vehicles making up more than a fifth of the total car market, up 42 per cent from January last year. These early signs are encouraging. 2024 was a record year for switching to electric, with 382,000 EVs sold, and a record year for charge points, with nearly 20,000 public chargers added.

“We’re investing over £2.3 billion to support the sector and consumers making the switch, tapping into a multi-billion pound industry to make the UK a clean energy superpower and deliver our Plan for Change."

The consultation closes on 18 February, with government expected to release an initial response after a period of 12 weeks from that date. However, given the complexity of the proposals and the number of responses, auto industry trade body SMMT is not expecting any announcements regarding changes to the current zero emissions vehicles mandate before the end of the year. “The year will be pretty much gone,” SMMT CEO Mike Hawes told The Independent at the announcement of 2024 sales figures in January.

SMMT wouldn’t comment on what was a closed meeting with government, but it’s understood that changes to the ZEV mandate targets and flexibilities available to non-complying car makers, plus incentives to boost private demand for electric cars were all discussed.

Latest sales figures show that electric car registrations grew to 21.3 per cent of total sales in January, up 41.6 per cent year-on-year but still some way short of the government’s ZEV Mandate target of 28 per cent for 2025.

While sales of EVs are growing, so is the public charging network. The DfT reports that there are now 74,234 public EV charging points in total across the UK as of 1 February this year, which includes over 14,000 rapid/ultra-rapid chargers that can charge a car to 80 per cent in just 20-40 mins. That’s an increase of 35 per cent year-on-year, with 900 new public chargers being installed over the past month. The number of charging points in rural areas grew by 45 per cent in 2024.

According to a National Audit Office report in December 2024, the government is on track to deliver 300,000 charging points – the minimum number estimated to be needed to support EV drivers – by 2030.