Electric vehicle tax calculator: how much could you pay?

The new pay-per-mile tax for electric vehicle drivers will be coming into force in April 2028.  

This will mean that all electric car and hybrid car drivers will have to pay an additional charge based on the amount of miles they drive each year, as well as Vehicle Excise Duty (VED).

How much will EV drivers have to pay? 

When launched, the charge will be 3p per mile for battery electric cars, and for plug-in hybrid cars, it will be 1.5p per mile.  

For electric car owners who drive an average of 10,000 miles a year, this would equate to an annual charge of £300. Or, based on individual journeys, if you drive from London to Manchester which is around 200 miles, this will cost an extra £6.  

To see how much you might have to pay a year when the tax starts in 2028, add your estimated mileage into this calculator. 

Will it make EVs more expensive to run than petrol or diesel cars? 

Even with this additional cost, EVs are still said to have lower running costs than petrol and diesel cars.  

Drivers who have petrol or diesel cars currently pay around £600 a year in fuel duty. So the idea for the tax is said to be around making it more fair for all drivers.  

However, this extra tax will be coming on top of the £195 that electric vehicle drivers now have to pay for vehicle excise duty, which they have been exempted from until this year (2025). So many EV drivers are disappointed by the introduction of the tax.  

How will drivers pay the electric vehicle pay-per-mile tax? 

It’s likely EV drivers will have to estimate their annual milage and will then pay a fee based on that. If they drive more miles than originally predicted, they’d be expected to top this up.