From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

By Paul Homewood

As noted previously, the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate took effect last month. Just to recap, this is how it works:

Any manufacturer that does not have enough allowances, one way or another, will have to pay a fine of £15000. Manufacturers with excess allowances will therefore be able to sell these at close to £15000, as demand will almost certainly exceed supply. (This assumes that total EV sales are less than target, which seems highly probable).

As I reported a a couple of months ago, the Government has confirmed that the mandate cannot be legally imposed on foreign manufacturers. Their response was that they hoped the likes of BMW would simply comply!

But what about foreign manufacturers who export EVs to the UK? Would they be awarded allowances?

I asked the DfT, and this is their reply:

It could not be clearer then. If Tesla or one of the Chinese EV makers export to the UK, they will be given allowances which they can sell to UK manufacturers.

Chinese owned MG and Polestar, for instance, sold 34,000 EVs in this country last year. So their allowances would be worth £510 million. Tesla’s sales of the Y and 3 models totalled 49,000, worth £735 million

And with China already the world’s leading car exporter, and Chinese owned BYD challenging Tesla in global sales, these figures will quickly shoot up.

The cost will fall on UK car manufacturers, and probably end up being passed on to car buyers. The AA has already indicated that carmakers would cap the number of non-electric cars they sell, in order to hit the target. This will inevitably force prices up.

Funny, but I don’t recall voting to send billions in subsidies to China!