The election in the UK is coming up pretty soon and a lot of the political parties have pledged various manifestos surrounding the current pure ICE car sales ban. Currently, the UK will look to ban the sale of pure ICE cars which don't have any hybrid technology by 2035. The original plan was to ban the sale of pure ICE cars by 2030 and allow hybrid cars to be sold up until 2035. After 2035, only zero-emission vehicles would be sold. However, the current Conservative government last year delayed this change until 2035, meaning pure combustion cars could be sold up until 2035.
At the time, Prime minister Rishi Sunak claimed that the time-frame change was needed to allow for installing the appropriate EV charging infrastructure. He also mentioned that other countries and regions such as the EU and Canada had got their timelines set at 2035.
When the delay was brought in, the automotive industry had its fair share of reactions. Ford UK boss Lisa Brankin stated that this delay would "undermine” the transition to electric cars and Mike Hawes, the chief executive of the SMMT also said that it would cause “confusion and uncertainty” for buyers. Meanwhile car companies which aren't as far along their transition and they should be, such as JLR said the delay was "pragmatic." Toyota, a company with only one electric car available unsurprisingly said this was "welcome."
The Labour Party has said that bringing the deadline back to 2030 would usher in some “certainty” for car manufacturers. Labour also said in its manifesto that it would also help accelerate the roll out of public EV charging stations and also bring in a new battery health standard to make the clarity of buying used EVs easier.
Elsewhere
Elsewhere in the political landscape, if elected the The Liberal Democrats would also bring the 2030 deadline back and The Green Party would move it to 2027. Reform UK would scrap the ICE car ban altogether as well as the ZEV mandate.
