Only a minority of the UK supports slowing the EV transition

Prime Minister Andy Burnham warned against reducing EV targets as new polling shows a quarter of Labour voters want to see transition sped up

New polling commissioned by charging industry association ChargeUK and conducted by YouGov shows that only a minority of the UK think the government should slow the transition to electric vehicles.

The results indicate the newly installed Prime Minister and his refreshed cabinet would be going against public and particularly Labour voters’ opinion, if they were to weaken EV policy by reducing sales targets.

The survey shows that whilst 37 per cent believe the move should be slowed, 34 per cent said that the pace is about right and 19 per cent that it should be sped up. 11 per cent said they did not know.

The figures are starker for those who voted for Labour in the 2024 election, with a fifth (21 per cent) supporting a slowdown compared to around a quarter (27 per cent) who believe the transition should be sped up. The highest cohort of 2024 Labour voters, 41 per cent, said they feel the pace of transition is about right.

The only party whose voters support keeping pace or speeding up the transition in greater numbers than Labour is the Green Party, with 30 per cent and 46 per cent respectively. Meanwhile Liberal Democrat voters are not far behind with 68 per cent supporting a same pace or faster switch (25 per cent speed up and 39 pace about right).

Slowing the EV transition could particularly harm the Labour government’s popularity with younger voters as age plays a significant factor in views on the pace of transition. Around a third (36 per cent) of 18 to 24 year olds support speeding up transport electrification, a figure which falls for successive age categories — 21 per cent for 25 to 49 year olds, 14 per cent for 50 to 64 year olds and 11 per cent for the 65 and overs.

ChargeUK has been vocal in warning against further changes to the government’s flagship EV policy the Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate (ZEV Mandate) which sets automakers’ EV sales quotas and provides the charging industry with the foreseeable demand which underpins infrastructure investment.

The association recently published polling data from YouGov which showed that reducing public charging prices to below the cost of petrol could boost EV demand by 48 per cent. Meanwhile recent Department for Transport statistics show that eight per cent of UK adults already drive a battery electric vehicle.  

Jarrod Birch, head of policy and public affairs, ChargeUK said:

“The British public is supportive of cleaner, cheaper driving — Labour voters especially. So, if Andy Burnham wants to deliver a voter-backed win for people’s pockets whilst reducing the country’s reliance on foreign oil, he need look no further than committing to an ironclad ZEV Mandate.

“Combined with action to address the policies unnecessarily pushing up the costs of public EV charging, this would ensure even more drivers can enjoy the significant savings from electric driving — on top of the nearly four and a half million EV drivers who are already reaping the benefits.”

Perran Moon, Labour MP for Camborne and Redruth and Chair of the Electric Vehicle APPG (All-Party Parliamentary Group) said:

“This report highlights the significant political risks of diluting the ZEV mandate. It is clear that the Government only has ears for legacy manufacturers that have failed to invest adequately in the EV transition but is not listening the EV supply chain — from UK lithium mining, to UK battery production and then the UK charge point operators who are today investing billions into the infrastructure needed to support the transition.

“The irony of all of this is that over than 77% of all cars manufactured in the UK are not even subject to the UK ZEV mandate as they are exported! But we all know that the real reason for their lobbying of Government is to ultimately delay the banning of new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2030 — which was a manifesto commitment. The dilution of the ZEV mandate should be resisted by Government.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

Methodology

All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc.  Total sample size was 2,130 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 21st - 22nd July 2026.  The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK adults (aged 18+).

		Vote in 2024 General Election					Age
	Total	Con	Lab	Lib Dem	Reform UK	Green	18-24	25-49	50-64	65+
Weighted Sample	2130	371	528	192	224	116	224	875	528	503
Unweighted Sample	2130	348	536	191	254	112	163	744	644	579
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
At this present time, do you think the government should speed up or slow down the transition to electric vehicles, or is the pace about right?
Significantly speed up	6	3	6	6	2	12	10	7	4	3
Somewhat speed up	13	4	21	19	1	18	26	14	10	8
TOTAL SPEED UP	19	7	27	25	3	30	36	21	14	11
The pace is about right	34	32	41	39	21	46	40	37	32	29
Somewhat slow down	16	25	12	14	18	7	6	12	17	26
Significantly slow down	21	30	9	14	49	6	5	17	27	27
TOTAL SLOW DOWN	37	55	21	28	67	13	11	29	44	53
Don’t know	11	7	11	7	9	10	13	14	10	7