Electric Vehicles Pay-Per-Mile (UK)

[Smithy]

The UK government is introducing a pay-per-mile road tax (eVED) for electric cars (EVs) starting April 2028, charging 3 pence per mile for battery-electric vehicles and 1.5p for plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), which will be collected annually alongside Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) through mileage checks, aiming to replace lost fuel duty revenue but raising concerns about fairness, privacy, and potential impacts on EV adoption.

Key Details of the New Tax (eVED)

• Rate: 3p per mile for pure EVs, 1.5p per mile for PHEVs.
• Implementation: From April 2028.
• Collection: Mileage will be recorded during annual MOTs or at registration anniversaries, with payment integrated into the existing VED system.
• Inflation: Rates will increase annually with the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
• Estimated Cost: Around £250 annually for an average EV driver (based on 8,000-8,500 miles).

How it Works & Concerns

• Revenue Replacement: The tax aims to offset declining fuel duty revenue as more drivers switch to electric.
• Fairness: Some argue it's unfair to charge EVs when petrol/diesel cars still pay fuel duty, while others note it's still cheaper than petrol/diesel costs, say This is Money.
• Administration: The government is consulting on how to prevent odometer tampering.
• Impact on PHEVs: Hybrids face "double taxation" (fuel duty + eVED).
• Privacy: Concerns exist about potential future tracking technologies, though current plans focus on MOT checks.

Current Situation (Pre-2028)

• EVs currently pay the standard VED rate (£195/year) but are exempt from fuel duty.

In essence, the UK is shifting towards a system where EV users contribute to road funding based on usage, but the details and impact on drivers are still being refined.

What do you think about this?

 

[Yvonne Smith]

I remember they talked about something like this here in the UNited States, and it did not go over well. As far as I know, it is not proposed here, but it would definitely be an invasion of privacy for the government to do that, since they have to track every car, every place that it goes to know how many miles the vehicle has traveled.
Even if a person does not buy gasoline for the vehicle, they have to charge the batteries, and most of that would be done by plugging it in at their home, so they are already paying for the electricity. If the vehicle is one of the hybrids that is charging the batteries when the vehicle is running, like the Prius does, then they would still be buying and paying for fuel.

It looks like president Trump is going to allow the car manufacturers here in the US to make and sell the “tiny cars” which do use gasoline, but get really good mileage, and are maybe hybrid.

 

[Joe Riley]

@Smithy "You have to pay to play"! This is an old, established rule. Do you have electric motorcycles? Are they included in this?

 

[Marie Mallory]

I remember they talked about something like this here in the UNited States, and it did not go over well. As far as I know, it is not proposed here, but it would definitely be an invasion of privacy for the government to do that, since they have to track every car, every place that it goes to know how many miles the vehicle has traveled.
Even if a person does not buy gasoline for the vehicle, they have to charge the batteries, and most of that would be done by plugging it in at their home, so they are already paying for the electricity. If the vehicle is one of the hybrids that is charging the batteries when the vehicle is running, like the Prius does, then they would still be buying and paying for fuel.

It looks like president Trump is going to allow the car manufacturers here in the US to make and sell the “tiny cars” which do use gasoline, but get really good mileage, and are maybe hybrid.

My daughter bought a EV last year, she didn't like it, so she traded it in for a gas vehicle.
It was her husband idea, he is a good man but wants to be like The Jetsons at times.

 

[Joe Riley]

My daughter bought a EV last year, she didn't like it, so she traded it in for a gas vehicle.
It was her husband idea, he is a good man but wants to be like The Jetsons at times.

....don't be a Wilma!

 

[Marie Mallory]

....don't be a Wilma!

She's not, she is a Ayn, haha.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

and it did not go over well

Well, these were mostly 2nd or 3rd or 4th cars for upper-middle class households. Why should they pay their share?

Of course they were peddled to everyone with vacuous promises of virtue and economy. Turned out, neither was true. As soon as taxpayer subsidy of BEV and PHEV sales disappeared, so did sales.

Heaven help the sucker still depending on one ad trying to make a go of it. The smallest parking lot fender bender or rock popping up on the road can total an EV. Those big underslung battery packs are delicate and expensive.

 

[Don Alaska]

One of my daughters has a Tesla. It is a second vehicle as they also have a Toyota pickup. She was rear-ended last year. The good thing is they had a complete video of the collision provided by the car; the bad thing was it took 6 months to fix and cost (the insurance company) over $20,000. The dealership couldn't fix it, so they sent it to a private contractor. EVs are practical in places where electricity is cheap and one has a second gas-or diesel-powered vehicle. Even here, they would be okay if you didn't rely on them solely. I know one family here who pretend to be poor, are very liberal, and have two EVs as their only vehicles. Both are retired, and when the power goes out they don't go anywhere until they can get the cars recharged. I don't know what they will do in a wildfire when the fire departments shut down the grid in the area in advance of a fire. If everything is charged and they don't have to flee far, I guess they would be okay. I kinda like hybrids, especially plug-in hybrids. I don't see the reason for the ones that can't be pre-charged.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

PHEVs have all of the expenses and issues of both gasoline cars and EVs.

To be practical they have to have a large battery, and it generally ends up underslung like a BEV. And you need the charging support to take any advantage of it.

A normal HEV on the other hand has a far smaller battery, usually in a more protected space. Yet they can get much better mileage than gasoline alone, as well as offering high low-speed torque so usually things like turbocharging isn't required and very reliable Atkinson Cycle engines can be used.

What it comes down is that 30 years of experience has shown the HEV to be ideal for anything but small urban cars and large payload trucks.

 

[Don Alaska]

PHEVs have all of the expenses and issues of both gasoline cars and EVs.

To be practical they have to have a large battery, and it generally ends up underslung like a BEV. And you need the charging support to take any advantage of it.

A normal HEV on the other hand has a far smaller battery, usually in a more protected space. Yet they can get much better mileage than gasoline alone, as well as offering high low-speed torque so usually things like turbocharging isn't required and very reliable Atkinson Cycle engines can be used.

What it comes down is that 30 years of experience has shown the HEV to be ideal for anything but small urban cars and large payload trucks.

My daughter has a non-plug hybrid and she gets 27-28 mpg. With my wife's Camry with a similar sized engine and no hybrid, she gets 31-32 mpg. I have even verified the mileage. Daughter has a funky brake pedal that takes some getting used to as well and that makes it troublesome on ice.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

I routinely get 40 MPG in my non-hybrid Civic, 35 during Winter cold. A larger vehicle like a Camry or even larger would be expected to get proportionately less.

I bought a Civic Hybrid in 2002, and that got 45 to 48 routinely around town. Long trips with more highway miles, especially old highways limited to 55 MPH it always did substantially better. I drove that until 2018 when I hit a deer one night, and insurance totaled it out as too old to be fixing. I could rely on a range of over 550 miles on a 13 gallon tank, which made it nice even on drives way out into the sticks of the U.P. here.

Newer vehicles do significantly better, but of course your driving patterns and vehicle weight are obvious factors. I believe electrification fails to scale linearly with vehicle weight because the quickly pass the "sweet spot" for both batteries and electric motors. Add something like AWD and things drop another big notch.

 

[Smithy]

I will stick to my diesel vehicles.