Revealed: Whitehall's 22-page ZEV mandate messaging
And what it tells us about the government's worries and focus
Hello, I’m Tom Riley, and welcome back to The Fast Charge, a British EV newsletter.
Top story today… I’ve obtained the Government’s internal ZEV mandate messaging pack. My analysis of what it tells us about their priorities (and areas they missed).
Elsewhere… 136 new hub openings, a fresh campaign on London’s Clean Vehicle Discount, and the cost of rapid charging drops by 2p per kWh.
Finally, if you’re attending Goodwood next Thursday, I’ll be there, so please do slide into my DMs. More generally, if you have any comments or feedback, please reply to this email or message me on LinkedIn.
Revealed: What Whitehall’s mandate messaging tells us about Labour’s concerns
Headline: Today, I’ve published the internal message house and Q&A that was used by the UK government to support the latest ZEV mandate announcement. (Download available behind the paywall.)
What is it? The document is a 22-page collection of messaging about the changes being made to the ZEV mandate consultation. The document includes a summary of the policy changes, ‘top’ and ‘topical’ Q&A, before getting into the nitty gritty of each change or aspect of the consultation outcome. There are some redactions, sadly not much to be done about that. Sometimes, where there are redactions, you could probably make a best guess on what’s been removed.
Why is it interesting? These ‘line to take’ briefing packs are a very standard part of making government announcements. And while they are largely dull repetitive statements, they can reveal to us areas the government felt more sensitive about, and perhaps areas they’re happy to skip over. At the very least, in this document, we get to see a lot of what the government would only ever say ‘on background’. Aka, we couldn’t normally quote them on this stuff, but here it is in black and white.
Where from? The document in question was released to The Fast Charge under FOI, after I requested it in early April. The pack was created by the Department for Transport; however, this pack will have ultimately been used to inform the Prime Minister’s mandate speech and visit to Jaguar Land Rover, as well as the wider government’s narrative on this policy in the months since, such as during the Spending Review.
My top takeaways… Having read through the pack several times, I have hit upon three points of interest.
1. Business, business, business
At the time of the consultation being made, I think many were surprised by the sheer number of flexibilities available to carmakers. Until reading this document, I probably didn’t appreciate the scale of jiggery pokery at play. Most of the pack is dominated by explanations and background information about the different ways the UK has shifted the goal posts towards manufacturers who have lagged.
Based on the sheer volume of Q&A about the flexibilities, officials were anticipating being attacked by those who saw the changes as too much, but ultimately, all the lines come back around to supporting the ‘automotive industry’ at a challenging time. And it’s of little surprise to me that all the new support was in this direction. As I revealed only recently, it was solely carmakers who got a look in with Senior Ministers during the consultation, and this engagement is referred to in the pack. So, no surprise they got all the spoils of war.
2. What about normal people?
While umpteen number of pages were dedicated to explaining how His Majesty’s Government is supporting the carmakers, yet again, there was nothing more than a passing mention of the private buyer. Which is strange, because from every talk I ever go to with an automotive leader, all you hear is about the challenge of consumer demand. So, it’s strange to find in this Q&A only one real mention of the driver, and the response drafted doesn’t even answer the question the government sets itself! See below.
Naturally, since April, we’ve had a Spending Review which has allocated £1.4 billion to EV uptake and £400m to EV charging. We’ll need to wait and see where that money goes. Though I’m certain the reality will equate to an industry subsidy to build, and not necessarily provide real punch to the driver. To this point, I noted in the document that, in response to a drafted question of ‘How long will the Plug in Vehicle Grants be committed to?’, the response appears to pour cold water on its future writing…
“The Plug-in Grants are kept under constant review. Grants will continue until the end of financial year 2025/26 for vans, wheelchair accessible vehicles, motorcycles, taxis, and trucks. The government have been clear since 2018 that the plug-in grants will eventually end and that all grants are kept under review to ensure the best value for taxpayer’s money.”
Perhaps that’s just a cautious government being cautious. The bottom line, though… this messaging pack is further evidence that the government is content to be whipped by manufacturers who, otherwise, with just one call to the press, can stir up chaos on this topic. And, because of that misalignment, all surveys continue to point towards drivers remaining nervous and confused.
3. Missing the point of it all
My final observation on this document is short, but arguably the most important. Does the government actually understand (or care) how these changes will affect the UK? At one point in the document, there is a comment that seemed to brush off the climate impact from these changes, with the wording saying…
“The new policy measures are expected to have a minor carbon impact when compared to the overall savings to be delivered by the ZEV Mandate.”
I understand that the ZEV mandate originates as a ‘climate’ driven policy. However, the prize of the mandate is far bigger than that, especially for cleaner air and quieter roads. Yet, while ‘carbon savings’ gets plenty of mention within the government’s messaging, I was a little surprised there’s nothing about clean air. Or, more simply, why we, little Britain, are taking on this huge challenge.
Yesterday, at a BVRLA EV conference, Ben Nelmes from New AutoMotive made a point that, in terms of our pace, it’s only really China ahead of us. I never understand why the government (or some of our national media) can’t see this transition as a huge opportunity to lead the world, as we’ve done for centuries. Apart from this time, we ain’t stealing Greek rocks or Zulu masks. It’s a shame the Whitehall messaging machine didn’t grasp that narrative.
👉 See for yourself!
Those are my top three, but I encourage you to look and read through for yourself how the mandate was spun. As a paid subscriber, you can access the document now by clicking the button below. It will be released to everyone else next week.
If you spot areas you feel I’ve missed, do let me know either in the comments or directly - I’d be keen to hear any of your reflections.
Latest EV news…
🔌 This morning, Zapmap has released its latest batch of figures, revealing that there are now 82,369 EV chargers in the UK. Interestingly, 136 hubs have been installed so far this year. Massive! Read more.
If you want to wait for the official government ones, they come out on 24 July.
📝 Also, this morning, a new campaign has been launched asking the Mayor of London to scrap the decision to reverse the city’s Clean Vehicle Discount. There are 28 business signatories to an open letter organised by the ‘Electric London Coalition’. Read more.
📊 Last week, I mentioned that the leasing organisation, Motability Operations, had published an EV Transition Tracker. Full document is here. It seems the key to alleviating people’s worries is to combine both testing the car and trying out charging.
📺 Need something to watch? Ed Miliband spoke to the Fully Charged Show Podcast a few days ago. See here. I’m admittedly only partway through watching. I’ve always had a soft spot for Miliband. Strikes me as a man who’d always lend you a pen.
👉 Over the past week, the ‘EV Facts’, created by Auto Trader, ChargeUK, and SMMT, were updated. These are the facts also used by DfT. See the minister’s post here. And the campaign now has new members joining it.
📈 Lamppost charging network ubitricity, owned by Shell, is looking to install 2,000 more EV chargers in Tower Hamlets by early 2026. Read more.
💸 According to The AA’s EV Recharge Report for May 2025, EV drivers saw peak and off-peak ultra-rapid charging rates fall by 2p/kWh. Meanwhile, pump prices are expected to become more volatile given the Iran-Israel conflict. Read more.
🚲 Lime, the e-bike provider that I need to stop spending so much money on, is apparently looking at an IPO in the US. Read more.
🤭 According to media stories last week, more than one in five Brits believe you can get an electric shock when washing your EV. Elsewhere… one in five Brits claim to have seen a ghost.
📣 People of Devon, the council has launched a cross-pavement charging trial. Learn more.
👍 According to figures from the latest Advanced Propulsion Centre UK’s demand report, British carmakers will be achieving full EV production by 2035. Read more.
⛪️ EV charging network Zest has partnered with the Church Commissioners for England to install sites in its Hyde Park Estate. Read more.
👏 Source, the network run by SSE and Total Energies, seems to be going gangbusters at the moment with hub openings. This latest one is Melksham in Wiltshire.
🛫 Fastned has opened one of its 12 bay ultra-rapid hubs just outside Newcastle Airport. Read more.
🐴 83% of Telegraph readers polled would not buy an EV. I’ve not read the full story, but the headline included the phrase ‘I’d rather travel by horse’. Lol, bring back the good old days, eh chaps. See here.
The number of "flexibilities" tells us a lot about how government works. One policy for the public eye, and one for behind the scenes. Sadly this is why no one trusts politicians anymore.
The evasive answer about consumers who don't have access to salary sacrifice is similar. The reason is that the tax savings are too complicated for people to understand and get upset about, unlike the previous flat rate scheme. No one cares about fairness.