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New rules set to come in 2025 mean that EV vehicles will now pay road tax for the first time. After years of being exempt from road taxes, EV owners now face the same costs as the rest of us, in a move which has puzzled more than a few motorists.
Changing the Rules
The announcement for this came from the UK Government, who put out a statement that read:
"From April 1, 2025, drivers of electric and low-emission cars, vans and motorcycles will need to pay vehicle tax in the same way as drivers of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles do. This change will apply to both new and existing vehicles and will ensure all drivers begin to pay a fairer tax contribution.
Electric and low-emission cars registered between April 1, 2017 and March 31, 2025: You will pay the standard rate. This is £190 for 2024 but is subject to change for 2025."
As we can see from the statement, electric cars now pay the standard rate if they were registered after 2017. Presumably, older electric vehicles (if any are still on the road) are taxed at a different rate.
New Rules, New Attitudes
The new rules due to come in are to reflect schemes which have been in place for years and their obvious success.
For quite some time, electric vehicles were exempt from road tax. This was a deliberate move to make them more appealing than petrol and diesel vehicles during a time when electric cars were new.
However, the scheme has worked so well that now the government is noticing a clear drop in revenue from a lack of taxable vehicles. Too many people made the jump to an electric vehicle and now there’s a dip in tax. Therefore, new schemes are needed to correct the issue.
A New Playing Field
It should be pretty clear that this is going to level the playing field for electric car drivers. Now that they are going to have to pay road tax like the rest of us, there may not be quite so many people making the jump.
With that being said, the petrol car is going the way of the dinosaur. There’s no doubt that the Labour Government will continue to try and fulfil the edict of making the UK carbon-neutral within the next 10 to 20 years. Therefore, this will ultimately mean phasing out the petrol and diesel engine.
There is a certain genius to the move. If you treat the electric car like it’s a normal vehicle that pays a normal amount of tax, it might become more accessible to people. As the demand for an electric car comes up, the price has to come down a little bit to be more accessible for the ordinary person. Whether this is through government schemes or the companies that make the cars bringing down the prices, it’s clear that they will become much more commonplace within the next decade.
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