Electric vehicle (EV) firms are yet to get real clarity from the government over the future of the industry in the UK, trade body SMMT has warned.

The government confirmed it would press ahead with its zero emissions mandate, requiring a certain proportion of cars produced each year in the UK to be electric, releasing a consultation on Thursday.

Prospective battery-producer Britishvolt and Ford Motor Company had called on the government in November to introduce the mandate by 2024, which it will do, though loopholes allowing manufacturers to offset shortfalls may come as an unwelcome suprise for the two looking to build power cells in the UK.

The mandate will require UK-based manufacturers to ensure 22% of their cars and 10% of vans are electric from 2024, rising to 52% and 46% respectively by 2028.

The question of subsidies for UK EV firms was avoided though, despite incentives in the US, under Biden’s US$400bn inflation reduction act, and in Europe aimed at drawing companies in.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt went a step further, blatantly explaining the UK would not go “toe-to-toe” with the US and EU in offering subsidies.

Jaguar Land Rover had called on the government to grant it £500mln or risk it building its new EV factory abroad, earmarking a site in Spain rather than Somerset.

Peers Nissan, BMW and Toyota, the UK’s three other mass manufacturers, may well also be left in a lurch as to where to place funding, with the former raising doubts over a planned £1bn plant in Sunderland last month.

BMW’s Mini is also understood to be still mulling over a £600mln investment into its plant in Oxfordshire.

Trade body SMMT (the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders) slated delays of the plan too, which had originally been floated under Boris Johnson’s government, arguing a lack of clarity for manufacturers had made planning difficult.

“Late publication and lack of regulatory certainty make product planning near impossible, and the continued lack of clarity as to what technologies will be permitted beyond 2030 undermines attempts to secure investment,” it said.

Ministers have also questioned a planned ban on fossil-fuel powered cars, due in 2030, after the European Union ruled it would continue to allow such cars, given they used so called ‘e-fuels’.