EV general discussion

[Kenai]

as for PHEVs.... i can definitely see a use case for them (we have one tho it is wasted on us we dont need it and its just added weight and complexity) but imo to get any form of grant or company car tax saving i think they need to have a minimum real world range of them..... not sure what that should be but more than the 20 - 30 miles which some have imo.... Maybe 60 miles? that way there is a genuine chance that for the day to day use of the car it may act as full electric.

Current year BIK rates are:

3% - Full BEV
3% - PHEV with Over 130 Miles EV Range
6% - PHEV with 70 to 129 Miles EV Range
9% - PHEV with 40 to 69 Miles EV Range
13% - PHEV with 30 to 39 Miles EV Range
15% - PHEV with Under 30 Miles Range (and I think ICE with under 50g/km CO2)
16% - ICE with 51-54g/km CO2
Everything else goes up from there.

So you do already need a decent EV range to get the 6% rate or a reasonable range to get 9%.

They'll all default to 18% minimum in 28/29 tax year, at which point full BEV will be 7%.

This is where VW have struck gold on the fleet markets with their latest 20kWh battery 1.5 PHEVs - they pretty much all have 70 miles or more range on paper.

 

[lordrobs]

This is where VW have struck gold on the fleet markets with their latest 20kWh battery 1.5 PHEVs - they pretty much all have 70 miles or more range on paper.

After a year of running my car with it's 12.4kWh (10.4kWh usable) battery I've got to agree that around 20kWh would be the ideal sweet spot for me. Much bigger and you are dipping in to full BEV territory. Much lower and you get too many annoying trips where the ICE fires up a few miles from home.

Current version of my car has 17.2kWh battery so the general shift is in that direction.

Our company keeps its cars for eons so I need to make sure the Astra is well and truly worn out by 2028 because 18% of its stupid £40080 RRP is going to sting. I'm just glad I don't have to pay the extra £425 a year for the sake of that extra £80 Especially as I know we paid less than £25k for it brand new

 

[Haggisman]

Looks like it's pretty much confirmed - whilst also freezing fuel duty

This is exactly my thoughts. They will seriously **** me off if they do this. It is stupid.

Indeed - the £3.5k grant would cover 87k miles at the proposed 4p/mile.

So make used EVs even less attractive, whilst giving handouts to those who can already afford to buy new. Genius.

Guess it's time to start shopping for a nice clean diesel van

 

[b0rn2sk8]

The milage tax is confirmed - the OBR leaked the budget 2 hours ago.

 

[Azza]

The Government has announced changes to the taxation of and subsidies for electric vehicles (EVs). The most significant is the introduction of a new mileage-based charge on electric cars, additional to the current vehicle excise duty (VED) charges paid by all vehicles, which will be introduced in April 2028. In 2028-29, the charge will equal £0.03 per mile for battery electric cars and £0.015 per mile for plug-in hybrid cars, with the rate per mile increasing annually with CPI. The average driver of a battery electric car in 2028-29 driving 8,500 miles is therefore expected to be charged £255 in this year. This is roughly equivalent to half the rate of fuel duty tax paid per mile by drivers of petrol and diesel vehicles.

 

[Simon]

Fuel duty is £2.36 a gallon. So currently 6p a mile on 40mpg car.

3p is half that an obvious move as duty income drops.

Maybe it is highlighting how cheap liquid fuel is to make versus electricity ?

Wonder how they going to measure and enforce it?

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Fuel duty is frozen for almost another year

 

[Kenai]

3 pence per mile for BEVs, 1.5 pence per mile for PHEVs from April 2028, tp be CPI linked for annual increases.

"roughly equivalent to half the rate of fuel duty tax paid per mile by drivers of petrol and diesel vehicles"

Incentivisation for EV purchases to balanced off by increasing the threshhold for Expensive Car Supplement to £50,000 for BEVs along with expansion of the electric car grant.

 

[Simon]

Fuel duty is frozen for almost another year

Good. It’s double EV still

 

[Kenai]

Wonder how they going to measure and enforce it?

This will be the really interesting bit to see, though I suspect this is not going to be detailed in the budget publication.

Looking forward to the explosion of dodgy adverts on Facebook and eBay for mileage blockers etc

 

[beachBOYken]

Great news.

 

[Simon]

£50k for expensive vehicle from April 2026. Any info on the 40k EV sold after april25. I guess no drop ?

 

[Simon]

This will be the really interesting bit to see, though I suspect this is not going to be detailed in the budget publication.

Looking forward to the explosion of dodgy adverts on Facebook and eBay for mileage blockers etc

Imagine public charging. 3p a mile and going over salary sacrifice mileage allowance. Cost per mile could be 50p in winter

 

[VincentHanna]

£50k for expensive vehicle from April 2026. Any info on the 40k EV sold after april25. I guess no drop ?

Do you meant the luxury car tax is increasing from where it was (40k) to 50k as of April 2026?

 

[Kenai]

Do you meant the luxury car tax is increasing from 40k to 50k?

The Expensive Car Supplement threshold is rising from £40,000 to £50,000 for BEVs from April 2026

edit - I expect there's a fair few dealers around now with a headache trying to figure out how they're going to convince anyone to buy an electric car with an RRP of between £40,000 and £50,000 between now and April - unless you absolutely have to for some odd reason, why would you buy a £45,000 BEV now rather than wait until April? You'd be mad.

 

[DanTheMan]

Imagine public charging. 3p a mile and going over salary sacrifice mileage allowance. Cost per mile could be 50p in winter

That was my initial thought too. Imagine paying 75p+ per kWh or more and then paying EV duty on top.

Will be interesting to see how this is implemented. I don't like the idea of needing to submit a tax return for my car.

 

[VincentHanna]

That was my initial thought too. Imagine paying 75p+ per kWh or more and then paying EV duty on top.

Will be interesting to see how this is implemented. I don't like the idea of needing to submit a tax return for my car.

It'll be easy on older vehicles that have their mileage logged on an MOT

Not sure how it's going to work on new cars that don't need an MOT - Self reporting maybe, but people will just lie

 

[TNA]

Looks like it's pretty much confirmed - whilst also freezing fuel duty



Indeed - the £3.5k grant would cover 87k miles at the proposed 4p/mile.

So make used EVs even less attractive, whilst giving handouts to those who can already afford to buy new. Genius.

Guess it's time to start shopping for a nice clean diesel van

Genius indeed. Ah man. Sad isn't it.

It is like they don't want to win the next election. So many stupid mistakes since getting elected. I thought that stuff was reserved for the conservatives and this was the adult more responsible party

 

[Haggisman]

Genius indeed. Ah man. Sad isn't it.

It is like they don't want to win the next election. So many stupid mistakes since getting elected. I thought that stuff was reserved for the conservatives and this was the adult more responsible party

Not coming in till 2028 fortunately. Plenty of time for everyone currently on a 3 year lease to get rid

 

[DanTheMan]

I'm probably in a minority but I don't think an EV duty is that bad of a tax raiser.

15k miles a year at 3p per mile is £450 a year, or £37.50 a month.

Given the cost per mile for anyone who can charge an EV at home is significantly cheaper than an equivalent petrol or diesel, it is still more economical in most cases.

I love driving an EV and can't ever see me not having one as my main vehicle, the fact it saves me money over the equivalent ICE is a bonus, not a requirement.