Euro 7 is confirmed for 2027 and the battery test is the real change

The Department for Transport published its response to the Euro 7 consultation on 27 October, and the decision is to proceed. New cars and vans registered in Great Britain from 29 November 2027 will have to meet the standard. The headline number is a date. The change that will reach most drivers is a battery test, which sets a floor for how much capacity an electric car's pack must keep and makes that figure readable to the person who buys the car second hand.

What the government decided

The consultation ran from 13 April to 25 May and drew 67 responses, 53 from organisations and 14 from individuals. Support was broad among organisations. For cars and vans, 30 agreed and four disagreed, and vehicle manufacturers split 12 in favour to two against. Private individuals were more sceptical, with 10 against and four in favour, citing the cost and repairability of new cars.

The government will accept EU and UNECE type approvals instead of running its own tests, which it says avoids duplication and lets one specification of vehicle be sold across the UK. The statutory instrument will be laid under the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025, and until it comes into force the Vehicle Certification Agency cannot accept EU Euro 7 approvals.

The main date is 29 November 2027 for all new light-duty vehicles in unlimited series. Small volume manufacturers, defined as those registering fewer than 2,500 cars or vans a year in Great Britain, have until 1 July 2030, and ultra-small manufacturers under 1,000 a year get the same date. The earlier proposal to require Euro 7 for newly approved types from 29 November 2026 has been dropped, after manufacturers said the lead time was too short. Small series, medium series and individual vehicle approvals are outside the mandate, though builders can use EU approvals if they choose. Heavy-duty vehicles will follow a separate consultation, and Northern Ireland stays under the Windsor Framework and applies EU standards directly.

The exhaust limits stay put

Euro 7 keeps the existing Euro 6 exhaust limits for cars and vans. The difference is in the counting: the particle limit now applies from 10 nanometres rather than 23, according to FleetPoint's account of the decision, which brings more of the smallest particles into scope. Manufacturers also have to keep cars compliant for 10 years or 200,000 km.

The larger shift is away from the tailpipe. Brake particle limits are set at 3 mg/km for electric cars and 7 mg/km for other powertrains, with 5 and 11 mg/km for the largest vans. Tyre abrasion has to be measured. Replacement brakes fitted to Euro 7 cars will not initially have to meet the new wear limits, a concession the aftermarket asked for and the government accepted.

The number that follows the car

Battery durability is the part that will stay with a car for most of its life. Cars must retain 80% of their original capacity after five years or 100,000 km, and 72% after eight years or 160,000 km. Vans get 75% and 67%. Those figures come from the EU regulation Britain is aligning with, and FleetPoint sets them out beside the government's decision.

The requirement comes with a data obligation. Battery health will be readable on the dashboard or through the on-board diagnostics port, so a number that used to depend on the seller's word becomes something a buyer or dealer can check.

That matters because battery condition is the largest unknown in a used electric car purchase. A three-year-old electric car can look immaculate and still be a risk if its pack has lost a fifth of its capacity, and there has been no common way to compare one car with another. Our guide to battery health covers what degradation looks like in practice. Euro 7 gives it a legal reference point.

Toby Poston, chief executive of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association, said the standard gives "one consistent benchmark for battery durability across manufacturers, and across different makes and models". The point is that a buyer can compare one car with another on a like-for-like basis.

The used market has been moving that way already. Battery electric cars were the only fuel type to gain value in October, rising 0.6%, or about £70, at three years and 60,000 miles, while petrol fell 2.2% and diesel 2.6%. Clearer battery data gives that trade a firmer footing.

What it means for buyers

Nothing changes for cars already on the road. The standard applies to new registrations from 29 November 2027, so a car bought this year or next keeps its current approval. Anyone ordering for delivery after that date will be buying a Euro 7 model.

The cost question is open. Fleet operators told the consultation that compliant brakes and tyres could be more expensive, and aftermarket suppliers warned that testing replacement parts to the new standard would carry a cost. Leaving replacement brakes out of the first phase softens that expense. The government has not put a figure on what the rest will do to a new car's price.

There is a plug-in hybrid detail in the small print. The Vehicle Emissions Trading Schemes Order will be amended so that plug-in hybrids approved to Euro 7 can keep using CO2 values calculated under Euro 6d for the non-ZEV part of the mandate, a flexibility that runs until 2030. Makers keep the CO2 figures they already use when working out their compliance under that scheme.

The timing

The date lands while the government is still deciding how steep the ZEV mandate's 2030 target should be. Whatever number comes out of that review, the cars sold between 2027 and 2030 will be Euro 7 models, and the standard will cover the hybrids that sit between the current market and a fully electric one.

Aligning with the EU is the government's stated reason for the timetable. Divergence would have meant two sets of type approvals for manufacturers selling in Britain and Europe, and the consultation responses repeatedly raised the cost of that split. The result is a British standard that is, in practice, the European one, applied on the European date.

The battery rule is the piece that will outlast the argument. A car registered in 2028 will still be on a forecourt in 2036 with a capacity figure attached to it, and that figure will be read against a legal threshold rather than a seller's assurance. For a regulation that began as an exhaust standard, that is a quiet legacy.