Labour’s manifesto says relatively little about Electric Vehicles, but is in proportion to the size of the manifesto document and its overall scope. In addition, Labour produced an automotive white paper at the end of 2023 which provides additional details.
In general, electric vehicles and infrastructure are key to Labour’s ambitions for cleaner, cheaper transport, net-zero targets and the wider economy over the next decade. It’s equally important to note what the manifesto doesn’t say – as well as what it does say – to provide an indication of the government’s future directions.
Labour Government’s Policy – Analysis
Firstly, the new Labour government recognises the popularity of private cars and has no plans to challenge their dominance of roads. We can see this by the emphasis on dealing with potholes; renewing the road network; specifically aiming to serve drivers.
Labour’s plan to reduce car insurance will help electric vehicle drivers, as well as young drivers.
How could they do this?
They could cap insurance; share insurance costs for multiple-ownership vehicles (e.g. car clubs) or provide a leased insurance model for infrequent drivers. EV drivers often suffer from excessive car insurance, due to the immaturity of the technology even though current evidence shows EVs are less fault or accident-prone than combustion cars: Labour could therefore use public money to back commercial EV insurance policies and generate a net revenue at the same time.
Labour plans to support EVs specifically by accelerating public charging points & restoring the 2030 cut-off for new ICE cars. However, the original law still allowed plug-in hybrids and, in practice, it will make little difference if plug-ins are still allowed. By 2030 plug-ins will be out-competed on price, range and size to around 5% of full, BEV sales, based on Norway’s market share as of 2024. Nevertheless, its reintroduction is ambitious, given the 9 months lost while the policy was reset.
Labour has specific plans for the second-hand EV market. This is really important because only a minority of cars are bought new, in contrast to the EV market which by necessity has been driven (sic) by new cars. It’s only recently, as new BEV sales have been levelling off while the first generation of fleet EVs are being replaced that the second-user EV market is starting to accelerate. Mandatory battery health information is a critical step for reassuring second-hand EV buyers. In practice, it will mostly confirm that EV batteries degrade slowly, though it will be helpful for EVs near the end of their lifetimes. Labour will need to provide more mechanisms for the second-hand EV market, such as a whole battery replacement industry; drivetrain conversions and probably most importantly being able to feed enough second-user EVs into the market, likely through salary sacrifice and fleet purchasing.
Labour has already signed up to the ZEV mandate, a bill passed by 89% in the House of Commons, increasing the number of new zero-emissions vehicles year on year from 22% in 2024 to at least 80% in 2030.
Direct EV incentives will be only part of Labour’s changes. Labour intends to use municipal ownership to change public transport. Labour councils and mayors have been at the forefront of introducing EV buses. For example, Nottingham, a city of 331,000 already has about 100 EV buses split between the two main bus operators; this represents about 16% of the bus service. This is likely to be replicated across Labour-controlled councils and mayoralties as a mechanism for lowering emissions and congestion while generating net savings.
Missing from Labour’s manifesto is any mention of Ultra-Low Emissions or Clean-Air Zones. Both of these have been instrumental in lowering emissions, yet simultaneously controversial. London’s ULEZ cameras have been repeatedly vandalised; Birmingham’s CAZ was delayed by 17 months; Leeds CAZ was abandoned; Manchester’s congestion charge was rejected in a referendum in 2008. Also, in 2023 Labour’s by-election failure in Uxbridge was blamed on anti-ULEZ campaigning.
Labour plans to add congestion charging for EVs from Christmas 2025 (though ULEZ remains free for EVs). This is being challenged by pro-EV groups. There’s no mention of the modest Fair Charge and SMMT proposals for lowering VAT from 20% to 5% for on-street public charging for local EV owners, yet this is essential for the 40% of potential EV households who can’t charge any other way.
Labour has a white paper for the Automotive sector. This document is EV-focused, including the term ‘electric’ a total of 30 times. Labour aims to ensure access to cheap electric travel for the masses through abundant, clean, secure energy; for personal and fleet travel. In addition, Labour plans to attract and support investment in Gigafactory battery production, alongside clear battery standards.
It’s helpful to see it recognises the ambition of the Zero-emissions sector, of which Versinetic™ is proud to belong. It affirms the lower TCO for EVs and lower up-front cost of EVs by 2030 (though current estimates are for the 2025-2027 timeframe). Labour intends to secure supply chains and reclaim ethical standards for battery manufacturing of up to 200GWh/year which will re-open the most profitable export markets and encourage domestic EV manufacturing. It estimates this will add 80,000 new jobs; 2 million EVs and £30bn to the economy, enhanced by a closer relationship with EU, EV standards; while providing time for UK businesses to meet Rules of Origin requirements.
In addition, the document intends to back up the new jobs with extensive college and business-friendly training programmes, though a skills levy. Training will be targeted at every region of the country. Automotive sector funding will match aerospace funding with the expectation of the 7:1 return on investment typical for ATI projects.
The white paper provides more details on charging infrastructure intentions. Binding targets will be set for charge-point rollout and £950m of the unused Rapid Charging Fund will be released to help improve reliability and a balanced coverage. In addition, local feedback on what works will be used to improve practice and policy.
The white paper sets out objectives for empowering infrastructure for charging infrastructure and grid upgrades, in particular, for businesses’ fleet EV deployment.
Public confidence is central to Labour’s strategy. Labour plans to tackle growing misinformation, by ensuring that real-world manufacturing and operating emissions are publicised along with corresponding battery lifetime & vehicle range data under multiple conditions relative to combustion cars. Labour will tackle the issue of multiple apps for EV users, mandating open access data for charge points with real time Quality of Service and availability for a given charger.
Conclusion
Labour’s plans for the automotive sector are ambitious and broad in scope. They address many of the major EV development needs for business, existing EV users and the wider public, who hope to use EVs in the coming decade. Proposals appear to integrate well with stated aspirations for economic growth and net zero without obviously compromising self-imposed budget limitations.
There are some gaps in the published material: there’s no mention of clean air emissions zones, which implies they hope to achieve these goals using carrots rather than sticks.
On the other hand, the documents don’t try to address the deeply punitive measures currently being applied to charging companies for relatively minor reliability & maintenance issues.
Nevertheless, it’s an impressive step up for Britain’s EV aspirations that builds on the substantial progress made in the past decade (the equal of other major EU economies). If Labour can fulfil its goal to improve implementation based on local feedback, we can all play a part in this critical transformation.
Author: Julian Skidmore, EV Industry Analyst, Versinetic
