It's official:

BBC News

Electric vehicle owners to face pay-per-mile tax

Drivers of electric cars will pay a road charge of 3p per mile, while plug-in hybrid drivers will pay 1.5p per mile from April 2028.

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The Office for Budget Responsibility's (OBR) document has stated the charge would mean electric car drivers will pay a road charge of 3p per mile, while plug-in hybrid drivers will pay 1.5p per mile from April 2028, with the rates going up each year with inflation.

The government said the new tax is about "half the fuel duty rate paid by drivers of petrol cars", the report says.

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This is whilst removal of 5p fuel duty discount is not removed, again.

I think the messaging is all messed up. Buy an EV and get punished whilst fuel duty levy hasn't kept up with inflation.
But at the same time, effectively give manufacturers backhanders for emissions to manufacture a brand new EV.

Business / Commercial users will still do pretty well as will those that can charge at Cheap Tariffs / Home, work etc. Plenty time in the next 3-5 years for some new more efficient ICE vehicles to be on sale before any ban on the new ICE vehicle first registrations. For EV,s now the Luxury VED is from over £50,000. Still £40,000 for ICE / PHEV,s.

Edited 26 November, 202526 Nov by Evolution13

20 minutes ago, wyx087 said:

I think the messaging is all messed up. Buy an EV and get punished whilst fuel duty levy hasn't kept up with inflation.

Or alternatively it could be viewed as 'buy an EV and contribute a small amount in a similar way to per fuel duty' 😀

Edited 26 November, 202526 Nov by skomaz

Those using Public Commercial Charging paying around 10 times more than offpeak home charging and paying 20% VAT. & private users not able to claim back the VAT.

21 minutes ago, Evolution13 said:

Business / Commercial users will still do pretty well as will those that can charge at Cheap Tariffs / Home, work etc. Plenty time in the next 3-5 years for some new more efficient ICE vehicles to be on sale before any ban on the new ICE vehicle first registrations. For EV,s now the Luxury VED is from over £50,000. Still £40,000 for ICE / PHEV,s.

But would the higher 50k threshold apply to previously registered EVs, or just ones registered after 01APR26? If not there will be a horrendous slow down on EV sales for the next few months.

Edit: Answered my own question, see below from the full budget report:

Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) – Expensive Car Supplement (ECS) – The government will increase the Vehicle Excise Duty Expensive Car Supplement threshold to £50,000 for zero-emission vehicles only. This change will take effect from 1 April 2026 and will apply to ZEVs registered from 1 April 2025 onwards.

Edited 26 November, 202526 Nov by iSamage

The £50,000 threshold is not bothering many Leasing a vehicles be them private or business users. Or even buying. They get the vehicle they want. The Chancellor says Motability will not provide luxury cars. There used to be a £26,000 threshold. Many vehicles that Disabled drivers or passengers are very expensive with the Conversions / Adaptions that are VAT free. They can cost as much or more than Mercedes / BMW,s that some seem to think are luxury. We will see if Mercedes Van / MPV,s are no longer available as wheel chair accessible vehicles, even non prestige brand vehicles can be £80,000. Re the VED+ and 3 pence a mile paying on a EV. Disabled Registered / Higher PIP Mobility drivers or passengers can be VED Exempt. So details on that will be interesting.

I did a quick calculation of the amount I'm paying in VED for a 2007 2l Octavia versus my annual mileage as a retiree. VED is £238 IIRC and I drive about 6k miles/year, so my mileage cost is 23800/6000 == 3.97 ~ 4p/mile, so slightly higher than the budget rate for EVs at 3p/mile.

1 hour ago, skomaz said:

Or alternatively it could be viewed as 'buy an EV and contribute a small amount in a similar way to per fuel duty' 😀

It's all about sending the right message.

Now it's: fuel price has always been like this, the tax is not well publicised. But buy an EV and you'll need to pay extra tax.

It should be: all cars use the road equally so pay equal tax per mile. Fuel duty reduced accordingly so cost of running fossil fuel car doesn't drastically change. Then the message is crystal clear: use of fossil fuel incurs additional tax for their pollution.

I think a long range EV with range extender as the Chinese are rumoured to be bringing will be the right vehicle to get with this tax scheme. Crazy government is incentivising more vehicle with ICE to be on the road.

14 minutes ago, MikeTheThinker said:

I did a quick calculation of the amount I'm paying in VED for a 2007 2l Octavia versus my annual mileage as a retiree. VED is £238 IIRC and I drive about 6k miles/year, so my mileage cost is 23800/6000 == 3.97 ~ 4p/mile, so slightly higher than the budget rate for EVs at 3p/mile.

The 3p/mile tax is in addition to VED. Just as fuel duty on fuel sold at the pump is in addition to VED.

To calculate equivalent, you need to find how much litre you use per year. Multiply by 52.95p/litre and then divide by your annual mileage.

The fuel duty now is 52.95 p/litre. It was frozen all the way back in 2011 and includes additional 5p discount. Accounting for inflation, it should be around 85 p/litre now.

Simmons Gainsford LLP

What is fuel duty? | Simmons Gainsford

Edited 26 November, 202526 Nov by wyx087

@MikeTheThinker 3 pence a mile. Then maybe the 2 pence a mile for those charging at home. or 10 pence to 30 pence a mile where ever the purchase the electricity out and about. So maybe £3.30 for 10 miles. £33 for 100 miles. It is a total p!$$ take.

4 minutes ago, Evolution13 said:

@MikeTheThinker 3 pence a mile. Then maybe the 2 pence a mile for those charging at home. or 10 pence to 30 pence a mile where ever the purchase the electricity out and about. So maybe £3.30 for 10 miles. £33 for 100 miles. It is a total p!$$ take.

How is it going to work ?

What if I drive on private roads quite a bit or take the car abroad. Westminster going to charge me for driving on Irish or French roads ?

Lots of shortcut trips i can see. Going thru towns and A, B, C, D and E roads, more point to point, clogging up villages, towns and cities !

Bigger wheels so odometer records less, big tall all season and winter tyres pumped up high !

Edited 26 November, 202526 Nov by lol-lol

10 minutes ago, lol-lol said:

How is it going to work ?

What if I drive on private roads quite a bit or take tge car abroad. Westminster going to charge me for driving on Irish or French roads ?

Lots of shortcut trips i can see. Going thru towns and A, B, C, D and E roads, more point to point, clogging up villages, towns and cities !

Bigger wheels so odometer records less, big tall all season and winter tyres pumped up high !

I don't think any of that will bother them - they'll just base it on odometer mileage change - but having said that I doubt Rachel from Accounts has actually thought through the 'how' side of things...

47 minutes ago, wyx087 said:

I think a long range EV with range extender as the Chinese are rumoured to be bringing will be the right vehicle to get with this tax scheme.

I've been thinking range extenders with a decent BEV range are the way forward for a long time... better still if the ICE element is highly efficient and small capacity

4 minutes ago, skomaz said:

I don't think any of that will bother them - they'll just base it on odometer mileage change - but having said that I doubt Rachel from Accounts has actually thought through the 'how' side of things...

That wad generally down to staff at Revenue Directorate to work it out, write the law.

Some of the chat had there were amazing, blue sky thinking.

As mentioned before when talking about claiming mileage that has been around for decades and the system is full of holes about which measurement to use, dodgy vehicles odometers, Google.

Customs tend to like people doing returns and the accepting them, or not, and perhaps issuing their own assessments if they wish too.

Sort of what the do in Oregon where it has been in for a while.

For a PHEV. say 13 kWh battery, charged at 7.5 pence a kWh and getting 30 miles on electric. 97 pence & then paying 1.5 pence on every mile & VED. 20 kWh battery £1.50 charging & 1.5 pence every mile. But if you Public charge that 20 kWh battery @ 50 pence a kWh you are £10 for maybe 55 miles. Then Paying the 1.5 pence. Actually probably not worth using Public Chargers. Or having a PHEV if a private user with no Home or Cheap charging.

As to Motability today. They do not want anyone leasing a Renault 5 EV. The Advance payment is £4.295 - £6,795, then over 3 years you pay over £12,500. If

27 minutes ago, lol-lol said:

How is it going to work ?

What if I drive on private roads quite a bit or take tge car abroad. Westminster going to charge me for driving on Irish or French roads ?

Lots of shortcut trips i can see. Going thru towns and A, B, C, D and E roads, more point to point, clogging up villages, towns and cities !

Bigger wheels so odometer records less, big tall all season and winter tyres pumped up high !

Maybe by the time it comes in in 2028 we will have to attach our cars to the digital ID in our phone and make a payment to an app to leave the house 😉 It will detect when we have left the Country so as not to charge us for driving abroad.

All Pie in the Sky stuff from a Government that can not organise a p!th up in a brewery but think AI might help them out by 2028. The TV Licencing is a total joke as is the DVLA & HMRC. High time they sorted out vehicles & the Registered Keepers or Vehicles 'In Trade' ANPR can flag up various things like even Registered Keepers being a Banned Driver. Yet so many Uninsured or Untaxed vehicles are still out and about and these days 'E-Bikes that can reach 100 mph & that riders are using and taking the Micheal out of Police Officers. Sur-Ron's & others.

12 minutes ago, Evolution13 said:

As to Motability today. They do not want anyone leasing a Renault 5 EV. The Advance payment is £4.295 - £6,795, then over 3 years you pay over £12,500. If

Ouch.

Renault have changed their deposit needed from 30% to 40% ie it was over £8.5k for my poverty spec evolution version.

Combination of that they could do this and people would go through getting the R5 and that Renault were not really making any money and new CEO has changed that.

Edited 26 November, 202526 Nov by lol-lol

2 hours ago, Evolution13 said:

Business / Commercial users will still do pretty well as will those that can charge at Cheap Tariffs / Home, work etc. Plenty time in the next 3-5 years for some new more efficient ICE vehicles to be on sale before any ban on the new ICE vehicle first registrations. For EV,s now the Luxury VED is from over £50,000. Still £40,000 for ICE / PHEV,s.

About time too. I've been looking at the Elroq to replace my L&K Superb in the next 2 years. The problem I have, is with the options I would like to have puts the car over £40k. I guess there is now going to be a pause in people buying £40k+ EV's until April.

What happens to those that have already purchased a car over £40k, but under £50k?

What happens to the value / price of Used ones over £40,000 first registered since April 2025?

Big drop.

Mostly a problem for manufacturer taking back cars just pcp.

There was about a £5k gap on my Zoe going back.

I was hoping my Scenic, 60 kw version discontinued in UK, would rise in value if cars over 2.4 tonnes GVW suddenly attracted much more expensive parking charges !

16 hours ago, moley said:

About time too. I've been looking at the Elroq to replace my L&K Superb in the next 2 years. The problem I have, is with the options I would like to have puts the car over £40k. I guess there is now going to be a pause in people buying £40k+ EV's until April.

What happens to those that have already purchased a car over £40k, but under £50k?

The change applies retrospectively, meaning that most vehicles registered from 1 April 2025 will not be required to pay the charge. Any vehicles taking out a second licence with effect before 1 April 2026 will be required to pay one year of the charge only.


A further legislative change also ensures that all vehicle licences which first have effect on or after 1 April 2026 are subject to the increased threshold, regardless of when the licence is applied for.

Details emerge in govn publication:

"4.29 Cars under three years old are not currently required to have an annual MOT. The government currently intends for these cars to attend an additional mileage check at an accredited provider around their first and second anniversary, but welcomes views on whether these additional checks should be required. For many motorists, this will be able to be combined with other routine servicing and safety checks that their vehicle will typically require in this period.

4.30 The government considers MOT test centres to be well placed to be these accredited providers.15 They already have facility to record mileages and are trusted partners of government. There will be no motorist charge for these additional checks, which will be funded by the government. The government will engage with the industry on these arrangements. "

"4.41 Vehicle changes ownership: The mileage already paid for will remain with the vehicle. This mileage – which may be either more or less than the actual mileage accrued at that point, as per the vehicle odometer – will be made visible via DVLA online to the new owner (i.e. the buyer). The government expects the eVED status of the vehicle (whether it is sold with pre-paid mileage or a mileage deficit) to be reflected in the sale price of the vehicle. "

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69282ac1a245b0985f034197/eVED_Consultation.pdf

22 minutes ago, wyx087 said:

Details emerge in govn publication:

"4.29 Cars under three years old are not currently required to have an annual MOT. The government currently intends for these cars to attend an additional mileage check at an accredited provider around their first and second anniversary, but welcomes views on whether these additional checks should be required. For many motorists, this will be able to be combined with other routine servicing and safety checks that their vehicle will typically require in this period.

4.30 The government considers MOT test centres to be well placed to be these accredited providers.15 They already have facility to record mileages and are trusted partners of government. There will be no motorist charge for these additional checks, which will be funded by the government. The government will engage with the industry on these arrangements. "

"4.41 Vehicle changes ownership: The mileage already paid for will remain with the vehicle. This mileage – which may be either more or less than the actual mileage accrued at that point, as per the vehicle odometer – will be made visible via DVLA online to the new owner (i.e. the buyer). The government expects the eVED status of the vehicle (whether it is sold with pre-paid mileage or a mileage deficit) to be reflected in the sale price of the vehicle. "

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69282ac1a245b0985f034197/eVED_Consultation.pdf

Still not comment on mileage done whilst not in the UK.

IMHO charging an EV owner for mileage done abroad is just as immoral as charging an ICE owner UK fuel duty for fuel purchased abroad.