Electric cars - Reeves to hit drivers with pay-per-mile tax

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Todays telegraph. Can imagine there will be howls of protest to this one.

Rachel Reeves to hit drivers with pay-per-mile tax in Budget

Mileage is recorded at every MOT so we know exactly how many miles per year a car is being driven.

My car isn’t due an MOT for another 2yrs

Because non electric car owners will be paying road tax, fuel duty and pay per mile. If you think they won't extend this to non electric cars you're the one not using logic.

What are you looking forward to paying more on so Reeves can claw back taxes?

Yes, but that's historic data for the previous 12 months. The fee is going to be based on what you think you'll do for the next 12 months. I mean, how long is a piece of string?

I don’t have an EV but wouldn’t be against paying per mile driven if public transport was actually a viable alternative for most journeys. But it isn’t.

According to various articles I’ve read, the average petrol/diesel car pays £600 in duty. There is VAT on that duty, so that’s £720 in fuel taxes. The average car does around 7k miles per year. In your example, therefore, a petrol car doing more than triple the average, 22k miles, would be paying £2,200. That is still more than the £2k you are quoting, and that’s based on 9p per mile. None of the mainstream media reports I’ve read have mentioned anything above 3p.

As more people to switch to electric, it’s costing the exchequer in lost fuel duty. How else should we make up that shortfall?

Why would it put people off moving to electric? A pay per mile charge of 3p would still be a lot less than the equivalent fuel duty on petrol/diesel.

Congrats on completely missing the point 🤦‍♂️

Pretty great though that you've got all that lovely solar so you're able to do so many of your car charges for no cost at all, including tax.

So yes.- it would be an additional tax on what you're paying now, because currently you're paying extremely little compared to the majority of road users. But still less tax than when you were driving an ICE vehicle. What a nice bonus - a number of years off paying for the cost of using the roads!

We bought an EV
Massive mistake,just looking for a reason to sell ,this could well be it

Are you one of those that cycles 2 miles to town instead of walking and make out your the bees knees.
This tax will be minimal on those that do a cyclable route. It's the ones commuting that will be hit worse.
Away cycle 60 miles on a motorway mid winter and then plead the virtues

In Norway, EVS are tax free. This means everyone drives them. It's lovely and quiet there.

However, and I didn't fully listen to this when I was there, this tax exemption is being halted in Norway. They have decided they have done enough to change the culture , and it was becoming ruinously expensive to subsidise. I'd argue in the UK 'ordinary drivers' would howl in protest at the idea of subsidising any eco benefits (charging zones for example in Uxbridge).

That said, Norwegians have all round different views about taxation, public spending, and so on (and, yes, it's a a large part of the country greenwashing itself given its oil production).

I do drive a tax exempt car so shall continue driving my trusty C1.

Nope. Perhaps I expected a higher level of critical thinking.

Fuel duty already exists for 95% of vehicles and recent years have shown the political toxicity of raising it. I have many criticisms of the current government but given how they're framing this proposal, adding a direct PPM model to the indirect PPM model isn't going to happen.

What about new cats that won't have an MOT?

Yes I wonder if there is an element of this in her thought process - if you look at UK new car registrations by type in 2025 vs 2024 it's clear that the switch has flipped in terms of people increasingly opting for electric or hybrid over ICE. That said, I think in an ideal world she needs to give it another couple of years to really establish that trend and stop backsliding. In my town there's a massive increase in the number of houses with solar panels and I imagine quite a few of these have EV's factored into their decision.

The wheels of electric vehicles are in contact with the road, so contribute to wear & tear of the surface. Their drivers are under obligation to pay attention to the same road signs and other street furniture as other vehicles. They use the same infrastructure, so they need to have the same costs.

Why it didn't dawn on the Government of the time (ie the Tories) that a huge increase in the use of electric vehicles would mean a huge fall in the revenue from fuel tax, I don't know. Should have been blindingly obvious.

Out of interest, what is the issue with your EV?

We have one and absolutely love it. I don't mind the extra tax , but I do mind paying it manually in one go.

How?

Will it go on MOT? Will it go on some monthly reporting? There's currently no mechanism for collecting the info and billing. Unless the Chinese govt have done a deal with all their car data and Tesla etc agree to do the same - and then the payment will cost probably as much as they collect.

Just take the VAT off car charging points - oh wait that'll give people a socket option still to avoid VAT.

There is an argument that very heavier vehicles do more damage to the road - which means anything with a battery in is probably doing more damage than a petrol car.

Electric cars are typically heavier than petrol cars,

Let’s look at the Peugeot 208 as an example, a small hatchback which is available with either a petrol engine or as an electric car. If you go for the 1.2-litre petrol model, it tips the scales at 1,090kg. On the other hand, the all-electric e-208 with its 50kWh battery weighs in at 1,910kg, almost double the amount.

I wonder what measures will be taken to insure that those living rurally, with no access to public transport and whose only option is to drive to work, are not going to be hit hard....oh that's right, none whatsoever because we don't matter.

Very good point our last 2 cars have been brand new and therefore no MOT required for 3 years assume they will abolish this as well

@AlaskaThunderfuckHiiiiiiiii the Telegraph article seems to suggest that it can use DVLA data (cameras) to estimate mileage for all vehicles. because it will clock them on most major roads. However, this seems a bit rudimentary, especially if people can work out how to avoid said cameras.

Pretty much this ^^

With the shift to EV, the tax was always going to chance to per mile. However, they're going to do it badly if they don't set up the right taxing infrastructure. I read somewhere it would be a 'guess how many miles you'll do' approach - which is dumb as anything. To do it right you'd have to submit mileage readings each year on your MOT and be taxed at that point.

Finally someone making a sensible comment.

I live rurally and the roads I drive on have no such cameras ! - If that is the way they are going to track people then I can see back streets becoming busy rat runs!