How the world is changing
Our government is now so desperate to fix the mess they created by spending way too much money on Covid support it is taxing everyone and everything including Electric Cars, Van and bikes.
Yes the days of tax free Electric Car driving are over.
Hunt’s Autumn Budget for EVs
From 1 April 2025, the so-called Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) must also be paid for electric cars, vans and motorbikes – but initially at a manageable rate.
In the first year, the lowest VED rate, currently £10 per year, will apply to electric cars.
From the second year, the standard rate of currently £165 per year applies. Electric cars first registered between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2025 will also be charged the standard rate. – This seems very unreasonable to implement a retroactive tax on EV drivers.
In another change unveiled in the Autumn Statement, the exemption for electric cars from the expensive car supplement has also been removed.
It means anyone buying a new car – electric or otherwise – priced at more than £40,000 will face having to pay £165 in tax plus a £355 expensive car supplement every year from the second to sixth year of registration. This exemption is also due to end on 1 April 2025, so electric cars over £40,000 will be charged again.
Electric trucks will move to the rate for petrol and diesel light commercial vehicles, which is currently £290 for most vans. Electric motorbikes and three-wheelers will be switched to the rate for the smallest engine size, currently £22 per year.
In terms of company car taxation, the “benefit-in-kind” tax, will be gradually increased for electric vehicles by up to 5 percentage points from 2027.
As the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, announced, the new regulation will make the vehicle tax system “fairer”. His Treasury added that with the change “all motorists will start paying their fair share”. However, they underline that this is not a departure from eMobility support: government support for charging infrastructure, for example, is to continue.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers says it recognises that all vehicle owners should pay their fair share of tax, it criticises the fact that the scheme is intended to affect not only new registrations but also existing vehicles – which now face a significant increase in costs.
Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said the change to the expensive car supplement was “the sting in the tail” of the announcement, adding it “will unduly penalise these new, more expensive vehicle technologies”.
Nissan, which makes the Leaf electric vehicle, also said it was concerned about the impact on the market, but said it would continue to work with the government “to tackle the main barriers to the electric vehicle transition, including public charging and measures to continue to support the purchase of EVs”.
Kia, which sells hybrid and fully electric cars, said introducing the tax on EVs was “at odds with the country’s net-zero ambitions”.
While we agree that EVs should pay road tax or as it is now called VED it should be a rate lower than petrol cars and certainly not be added retroactively for drivers who have hade the switch to EVs.
This seems misguided policy created by a party clutching at straws in an attempt to rase as much cash as possible with scant regards to the long term environmental benefits of EVs.
SourcesL: autocar.co.uk, bbc.com, gov.uk (page 52)