UK Weighs Cutting EV Targets as Sales Already Beat Goals
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- UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham's government will consult as soon as next week on weakening the 2030 target of 80% new EV sales, with most reporting pointing to a potential cut to 50–70%, according to The Times
- UK BEV sales jumped 44.5% year over year in July, with plug-in vehicles now accounting for nearly 40% of new car sales year to date — exceeding the government's targets
- UK petrol prices have averaged £1.62/liter ($8.21/gallon) and diesel £1.92/L ($9.70/gallon) amid a five-month Iran war, driving a sharp rise in household installations of solar panels, EV chargers, and heat pumps since March
- Drought now covers three-fourths of England during the country's hottest summer on record, with a fifth heat wave looming and a UK government report warning the country has 'no future' without climate action
- Ed Miliband, the architect of UK net-zero policy, was shifted to Foreign Secretary and replaced at environment by Miatta Fahnbulleh, who has hinted at reviewing the EV rules
- Burnham is also reportedly weighing expanded North Sea oil drilling alongside the EV rollback, a move industry lobbyists and climate-skeptical media figures like Rupert Murdoch and Elon Musk have long pushed for
Why it matters: British drivers and households are accelerating EV adoption specifically to escape record petrol prices tied to the Iran war and to lower their climate exposure — a rollback of the 80% by 2030 mandate undercuts that consumer shift just as the UK reports its hottest summer ever and three-fourths of England faces drought.
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