The government has confirmed it plans to relax electric vehicle sales quotas after Nissan claimed they threatened the future of its Sunderland manufacturing plant.
Jonathan Reynolds told the Times a “substantial change of policy” had been agreed. “We will do everything we can to make sure Nissan has that secure long-term future in the UK, making sure the business and regulatory environment reflects that.”
The so-called ZEV (zero-emission-vehicle) mandate forces car manufacturers to hit steadily increasing annual sales targets for electric cars or face fines. The policy had initially targetted 80 per cent of sales each year to be electric by 2030.
Reynolds has said the policy change was supported by energy secretary Ed Miliband, whose green agenda has faced a number of setbacks in recent months, namely Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ backing of a third runway at Heathrow.
“The whole government is absolutely of the view that you will not get to the progress around net zero and the energy transition that we want to see by closing down British jobs and British industry,” Reynolds said.
Carmakers including JLR, Nissan and Stellantis have been lobbying fiercely for the government to water down the ZEV mandate.
Its introduction comes amid a challenging period fo the world’s biggest automakers, which are facing tough competition from Chinese manufacturers.
Reynolds has not given exact details of the changes that will be made to the ZEV mandate but he told Nissan boss Makoto Uchida: “Nothing is off the table.”
Potential areas that could be altered include “flexibilities,” where companies that fall short of EV targets can earn “credits” or borrow from future years by reducing emissions from the fuel-burning cars they sell.
“For us it’s about being ambitious as to the destination [towards zero emissions] but making sure we’re working with business … to deliver on that ambitious end point,” Reynolds said. “We’ve shown a level of pragmatism on that which is essential, and it’s absolutely what Nissan wanted to see.”