UK EV sales targets for 2025 explained: what manufacturers must hit
From 2025, car manufacturers selling vehicles in the UK face stricter requirements on how many of those cars must be fully electric. The rules sit under the government’s Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate — a policy designed to push the market away from petrol and diesel over the rest of the decade.
While the headline figures are often quoted, the way the targets work in practice is more complex, and their impact on pricing, availability and model choice is still playing out.
What are the 2025 EV sales targets?
Under the ZEV mandate, manufacturers must ensure that a minimum percentage of their new car sales each year are zero-emission vehicles — effectively, fully electric cars.
For 2025, that target rises compared with earlier years, increasing the proportion of EVs that must be sold across each manufacturer’s UK lineup.
How the mandate actually works
The system is not a simple pass-or-fail test. Instead, manufacturers earn credits for each qualifying EV sold. Those credits can be:
- Carried forward or banked from previous years
- Traded between manufacturers
- Used to offset shortfalls in specific years
This flexibility is designed to smooth the transition and avoid sudden shocks to the market, but it also means the headline target does not always reflect immediate changes in showroom behaviour.
Why the targets are becoming more contentious
As targets rise, the challenge shifts from launching EV models to selling them in volume. Manufacturers must balance pricing, production capacity and demand — particularly in segments where electric alternatives remain more expensive.
Industry groups have warned that uneven charging infrastructure and higher upfront costs could make it harder to meet targets in certain parts of the country.
What this could mean for buyers
For consumers, the effects are subtle rather than immediate. In some cases, manufacturers may prioritise electric versions of popular models, or adjust incentives to steer demand.
Over time, the mandate is expected to increase EV choice across more price points, but the pace of that change depends heavily on how manufacturers respond — and how demand develops.
What happens beyond 2025?
The 2025 targets are part of a longer trajectory, with requirements increasing each year towards the planned phase-out of new petrol and diesel cars later in the decade.
Whether the current framework remains unchanged will depend on market conditions, infrastructure delivery and political priorities — all of which remain in flux.