The UK Government has outlined its operational framework for the upcoming Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) arriving in April 2028.
The per-mile scheme will levy a 3p charge per mile on pure battery electric and hydrogen road transport, while plug-in hybrids will see a 1.5p rate.
Treasury forecasts anticipate roughly 5.6 million vehicles being wrapped into this new taxation structure during its debut financial year, pulling in £1.1 billion.
To soften the operational blow for commercial operations, the government has built in key administrative concessions, allowing fleet operators to submit mileage estimates rather than physical odometer readings, bypass mandatory checks on vehicles under three years old, and process bulk licensing and payments.
What did our experts think?
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John Curtis: "The figure I've never seen before is how much this will raise: HMRC expects eVED to raise £1.1 billion for the exchequer in the first year... The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates the introduction of eVED will have a marginal 2% impact on forecast EV sales."
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Sara Sloman: "I've just bought my second-hand electric car, and my tax was £200... A year and a half from now, I'm going to have to start paying probably about £300 on top because I'm a high-mileage driver... So my tax is double that of a diesel car right now... It's completely swung the wrong way!"
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Sam Clarke: "Commercial vehicles aren't included... Every one of these variables makes it convoluted, administratively heavy... It just feels like everywhere you turn, we seem to be coming up with more complex ideas, making it more difficult, not less difficult."
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Paul Kirby: "We've just taken £600-plus million pounds off electric motorists by adding the expensive car tax allowance for every year... It's a monster number... Then you've got vans coming in at £365... It's a good job they're not going to throw the VED at vans... It just means that we've got to fight that little bit harder."