When Will Petrol and Diesel Cars Be Banned in the UK?

New cars powered solely by petrol or diesel will no longer be sold in the UK from 1 January 2030. The ban applies to new sales only: existing petrol and diesel cars will remain legal to drive, tax, insure and sell as used vehicles for as long as they remain roadworthy. By 2035, every new car sold in the UK must be fully zero-emission at the tailpipe. This is not a rumour or a proposal; it is confirmed government policy backed by the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate.

What exactly is banned and when?

Date	What changes
1 January 2030	New cars powered solely by petrol or diesel can no longer be sold
2030 to 2035	Full hybrids and plug-in hybrids may still be sold new, within defined criteria
1 January 2035	Every new car and van sold must be fully zero-emission at the tailpipe

The 2030 ban applies only to pure petrol and pure diesel cars. Hybrids that can run on electric power for a meaningful distance are treated differently. The government has confirmed that full hybrids (including self-charging hybrids) and plug-in hybrids will be permitted between 2030 and 2035, provided they meet specific criteria that have not yet been fully defined in legislation. The 2035 end date is a hard zero-emission cutoff with no hybrid exemptions.

Can you still drive your petrol or diesel car after 2030?

Yes. The ban is on new sales, not on vehicle ownership, use, insurance or the sale of used vehicles. If you own a petrol or diesel car in 2029, you will still be able to drive it in 2030, 2035, 2040 and beyond, subject to MOT, tax and insurance. There are no plans to ban petrol and diesel cars from UK roads generally; that is not part of any current or proposed policy.

What will change for older vehicles is the regulatory environment around them. Petrol and diesel vehicles entering city centres with Clean Air Zones will face growing daily charges as more cities implement CAZ rules. Road tax (VED) for high-emission vehicles is not set to fall. And the used market will gradually shift as more zero-emission cars enter the secondhand pool. But ownership of an existing petrol or diesel car after 2030 is entirely legal.

Why was the date set at 2030?

The original 2030 target was set by the Johnson government in 2020 as part of the Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution. It was briefly pushed back to 2035 by Rishi Sunak in September 2023, before Labour reinstated the 2030 date as a priority policy after winning the 2024 general election. The current 2030 target therefore reflects a deliberate return to the more ambitious timeline.

The date was chosen to give manufacturers sufficient lead time to retool production and develop competitive EV ranges, while being ambitious enough to accelerate investment. The UK was among the first major economies to set a firm 2030 date; the EU’s 2035 target is five years later.

How does the ZEV Mandate relate to the ban?

The Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate is the enforcement mechanism that delivers the 2030 ban in a managed way. Instead of a cliff edge in January 2030, manufacturers must hit rising annual targets for zero-emission vehicle sales as a proportion of their total registrations: 33% in 2026, rising to 80% in 2030 and 100% in 2035. Each year they fail to hit the target, they face fines of £12,000 per non-compliant car above their permitted allowance.

The mandate forces manufacturers to build EV capacity and discount EVs to hit their numbers, rather than waiting until 2029 and attempting a sudden pivot. For buyers, the mandate is also the primary driver of current EV deals: manufacturers need sales volume for compliance, which is why average EV discounts in 2025 reached an estimated £11,000 per car.

Are any vehicles exempt from the 2030 ban?

Yes, two categories:

Micro-volume manufacturers. Carmakers that register fewer than a defined threshold of vehicles per year in the UK are exempt. This protects very small specialist builders of performance and heritage vehicles where electric conversion is not commercially or technically feasible.

Hybrids (between 2030 and 2035). Full hybrids and plug-in hybrids can continue to be sold new after 2030 for a five-year transition period, though the specific criteria (how many electric-only miles, what efficiency threshold) are still being finalised in regulation.

Does the ban affect used car sales?

No. You can buy and sell used petrol and diesel cars indefinitely. The used petrol and diesel market will continue to operate after 2030 and 2035; there is no plan to phase out second-hand ICE vehicles. What will happen gradually is that the mix of used cars available will shift as zero-emission vehicles enter the pool from new, and the relative running costs of petrol and diesel vehicles may shift depending on fuel tax policy and the expansion of Clean Air Zones.

What about motorcycles, HGVs and vans?

Vans: New diesel vans will also be banned from 2035. The ZEV Mandate targets for vans follow a separate but parallel trajectory: 24% in 2026 rising to 100% by 2035.

Motorcycles: The government has proposed a 2035 ban on new internal combustion engine motorcycles, though the specific rules are not yet finalised.

HGVs (trucks): A separate set of regulations covers heavy goods vehicles. New zero-emission HGV targets are being developed and the 2035 date is being applied to smaller lorries; very large HGVs have a longer timeline given the technology challenges.

What does this mean if you are buying a car now?

If you are buying new, the 2030 ban effectively means that most new cars you buy from now will be your last petrol or diesel vehicle unless you specifically choose an older used car. A new petrol car bought in 2026 will be around four years old when the ban takes effect; it may still have significant value and many years of legal use ahead, but it is worth considering resale values in a market where the only new product from 2030 will be zero-emission.

If you are planning to buy an EV, 2026 is an unusually advantageous time. Manufacturer ZEV Mandate compliance pressure means EV discounts are near their peak. Waiting until the market has naturally shifted closer to the mandate targets (around 2028/29) may mean less aggressive deals.

Will petrol become unavailable?

Petrol and diesel fuel will remain available after 2030. Forecourt operators have no legal requirement to stop selling petrol or diesel, and with tens of millions of existing ICE vehicles on the road, the fuel supply chain will remain commercially viable for decades. The question of when petrol forecourts start closing will be driven by economics (falling sales volume making individual sites unviable) rather than legislation, and analysts expect that process to take well beyond 2040 in most of the UK.

What to do next

If the 2030 ban has prompted you to consider switching to an EV, the best starting point is understanding the grants available. See our guide to what EV grants are available in the UK and our overview of the ZEV Mandate and how it affects car prices.

For the full policy picture, return to the grants, policy and legislation hub.