Sales of some new hybrid cars will be allowed until 2035, the government has said, but it denied that this was a change to a manifesto pledge to ban petrol and diesel cars from 2030.
Ministers plan to reinstate a 2030 ban on new cars that run solely on petrol and diesel that was dropped by Rishi Sunak a year ago, with a decision yet to come on which hybrid cars will be allowed. That final decision will be made after consultation with carmakers and other interested parties.
The statement followed a report in the Daily Telegraph at the weekend that it intended to “back away” from a total ban in 2030.
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “This is untrue as we have always been committed to restoring the original 2030 phase-out date for the sale of new cars with pure internal combustion engines.
“The original phase-out date included the provision for some hybrid vehicle sales between 2030 and 35. We know it is important to provide certainty and stability for drivers and will set out further details in due course.”
Carmakers have been lobbying furiously to extend petrol sales as growth in demand for electric cars has slowed after a surge in recent years. That has forced them to drop prices, hitting profits. In August, 22.6% of UK car sales were electric, the highest for a month since December 2022, and some analysts expect electric sales to increase as carmakers race to hit separate rules known as the zero emissions vehicle (ZEV) mandate.
In its manifesto, Labour pledged to give “certainty to manufacturers by restoring the phase-out date of 2030 for new cars with internal combustion engines”.
Labour’s manifesto gave no further details of whether hybrids were included, but all hybrid cars have internal combustion engines, which are combined with a smaller battery. They range from mild hybrids – which mainly use a battery to make a car move off more efficiently – to regular hybrids that can use an electric motor to move short distances and plug-in hybrids whose battery can be recharged by cable.
When cars use a battery more, their carbon emissions tend to be lower. However, pure battery electric cars are more energy efficient than hybrids, and with average use are significantly better for the environment over their lifecycle.
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In practice, the precise details of which hybrids are allowed will only impact a minority of drivers, as Labour had already indicated it would retain the ZEV mandate, which means four-fifths of manufacturers’ cars must be pure electric by 2030.
However, the ability to continue selling hybrids would be valuable to carmakers with British factories. Most notably, a ban on all hybrids in 2030 is strongly opposed by Japanese manufacturer Toyota, which will have to decide on whether to upgrade its Derbyshire car factory to electric in about 2027.