The UK’s ban on new petrol and diesel cars will have to be delayed after it emerged the EU is poised to push back its own crackdown, senior industry figures have suggested.
At the heart of the warning is concern that a U-turn on the continent would mean not enough electric vehicles being built in the next half decade to allow Britain to push ahead with its plans.
The EU was set to ban new petrol and diesel cars from 2035, five years after a similar ban is due to be brought in in the UK, but that measure is set to be watered down as early as next week following pressure from carmakers and powerful countries in the bloc, such as Germany and Italy.
German chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday said he “supported” a climbdown, saying the “reality is that there will still be millions of combustion engine-based cars around the world in 2035, 2040 and 2050”.
Amid concerns over the future of one of Europe’s most important sectors, and a growing threat from China, Manfred Weber, the president of the EPP, the largest party in the European Parliament, said this sent an important signal “to the entire automotive industry and secures tens of thousands of industrial jobs”.
The UK’s net-zero policies, led by environment secretary Ed Miliband, include a ban on the sale of pure petrol and diesel cars from 2030. Dr Andy Palmer, a former chief executive of Aston Martin, said the UK would have to follow the EU’s lead because of the high number of vehicles traded between the two areas.
“It becomes very difficult because if the EU drops their ban the factories there won’t ramp up their EV (electric vehicle) production in the way forecast. There wouldn’t be enough EVs to meet the demand required in the UK,” he told the Times. Other industry sources told the paper that a review of the mandate which sets out the proportion of vehicles manufacturers sell that must be green due for 2027 would have to be brought forward.
But supporters of the vehicles called on the EU to stick to its current plan.
Chris Heron, the secretary-general of E-Mobility Europe, the trade body, said: “Europe must keep a clear investment signal for the shift to electric vehicles. Weakening the 2035 target would be a worrying backwards step, dragging us back to yesterday’s technologies and undermining the industries investing in Europe’s electric future”
A government spokesman said: “We remain committed to phasing out all new non-zero emission car and van sales by 2035. More drivers than ever are choosing electric, and November saw another month of increased sales with EV’s accounting for one in four cars sold.”
Major carmakers, including Volkswagen, Renault, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, have argued in favour of the EU dropping the ban. They warn that consumers are not taking up EVs in the numbers anticipated when the 2035 date was approved in 2022.
