4.6 out of 5

  • March 27, 2025

  • Sara Davies

Road tax or Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) is a yearly tax. It’s paid by the owners of cars, motorbikes, vans, and other motor vehicles registered in the UK.

Road tax funds are used for projects that benefit everyone, which include works to maintain and improve the road network in the UK, such as repairing potholes and upgrading motorways.

As it currently stands electric cars pay zero road tax but from 1 April 2025, electric vehicles will be charged.

Why Do Electric Vehicles Have to Start Paying Road Tax?

Electric car owners currently aren’t contributing to maintaining the roads that they’re driving on or other services that the road tax is used to pay for. This must be addressed, especially as electric vehicles become more and more commonplace on our roads.

How Much Will the Tax Cost on an Electric Car?

The amount of road tax depends on when the low-emission or zero-emission car is registered:

  • New electric and low emission cars registered on or after 1 April 2025 will pay £10 for year 1, increasing to £195, the standard VED rate, from year 2.
  • EVs and low emission cars registered between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2025 will pay £195.
  • Electric and low emission cars registered between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017 with CO2 emissions of up to 100g/km will stop being free and rise to £20 from April 2025 .

Is There Anything Else I Need to Know?

Yes, if your EV costs more than £40,000 when new, it will be subject to the Premium Car Surcharge, as of 1st April 2025. This means that:

  • Newly registered EVs will pay £10 in tax in the first year
  • From years 2-6, they will pay £425 in Premium Car Surcharge
  • From year 6 onwards, they will be taxed at the £195 standard rate

As for hybrids, from April 2025, hybrid cars will lose the £10 discount that currently applies to them on first and subsequent year fees, so they’ll also pay the same as cars with petrol and diesel engines.

What Are the Road Tax Categories and Payments Currently?

The current road tax payments can be found on the government website here. They’re calculated in 2 different ways depending on the car’s age:

  • The road tax of cars registered after March 2001 is based on CO2 tailpipe emissions
  • The road tax of cars registered before March 2001 is based on engine size

 This explains why electric cars are currently exempt from road tax since they have no emissions or engine. From 1st April 2025, these figures will change and the first band at £0 will no longer exist.

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