---
title: "Noted on 29 Sep 2026"
author: Marc Roberts
date: 2026-09-29
url: https://www.marcroberts.info/notes/2026-09-29-zev-mandate-car-club-credit/
---

# Noted on 29 Sep 2026

The ZEV mandate has a bonus for every EV a manufacturer puts into a car club. In total in 2024 DfT says the industry earned 11 credits.

Currently manufacturers receive an extra half credit for each zero-emission car used exclusively by a car club for its first 18 months. CoMoUK told the Transport Committee in January that it has "rarely been used", because there's no direct link between manufacturers and car clubs. DfT now says much the same: the credit "involves a relatively high level of administration when compared to its uptake and impact to date".

Why? Car clubs generally don't buy their cars from the manufacturer. They lease them through one or more intermediaries, so the manufacturer who'd earn the credit often doesn't know the car ended up in a car club, and has little reason to go and find out for half a credit.

DfT suggests moving the admin onto manufacturers. What about having the car club register the vehicle, so the credit can follow it back to whoever built it. The car club is the one party that definitely knows where the car is.

Question 38 of the review asks for views on the credit, with supporting evidence, and the people who have that evidence are the ones running and leasing the fleets. So if that's you, what incentive would encourage you to register the car as being in a car club on behalf of the manufacturer?