The amount of Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) – more commonly referred to as road tax or car tax – payable depends on several factors, including the type of vehicle, its CO2 emissions, and the date of its registration. Historically, road tax was primarily based on the vehicle’s engine size, but since 2001, it has been linked to carbon dioxide emissions. Now, the general rule of thumb is the higher the CO2 emissions emitted from your vehicle, the higher the road tax.
And with the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in 2035, the government has searched for ways to encourage the adoption of electric cars. In fact, certain incentives for low-emission vehicles, such as lower tax rates or even exemption from road tax altogether, have come about for electric cars and hybrid electric cars.
But do electric cars pay road tax in the UK in 2024?
Keep reading to learn everything you need about electric cars and road tax.
No, battery electric cars do not have to pay road tax since electric cars produce no tailpipe emissions. No road tax on electric cars is one of the many perks of making the switch to electric in 2024, in league with exemptions from areas such as the Ultra Low Emission Zone and the Congestion Charge.
While plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) often get lumped in with the likes of battery electric cars, this is not the case with road tax. Unlike fully electric cars that produce zero emissions at the tailpipe, hybrid cars must pay road tax in the UK in 2024 and the foreseeable future because, despite the electric element of plug-in hybrids, PHEVs still produce CO2 emissions.
But there is a silver lining; hybrid cars pay a reduced amount as the emissions are lower than standard ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles.
When purchasing a vehicle with a value or ‘list price’ of over £40,000, an additional road tax fee must be paid. Named the expensive car supplement, a government-enforced premium rate of £390 must be paid every year for five years from the second time your vehicle is taxed.
The good news is you don’t have to pay road tax on electric cars over £40,000 nor pay the additional premium vehicle fee for vehicles over £40,000 in 2023/2024 – if you have a fully electric vehicle. The bad news is if you own a hybrid electric vehicle, you will still have to make road tax payments and pay the additional supplement if your hybrid is over this threshold.
With the adoption of EVs surging in the UK (1,000,000 pure electric cars registered to date) and the ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars in 2035, electric cars on UK roads will soon become the norm.
And unfortunately, the UK government announced in November 2022 that zero-emission cars, vans and motorcycles will have to pay road tax from April 2025, meaning fully electric cars will have to start paying road tax. Electric cars will also have to start paying the expensive car supplement for vehicles over £40,000 in 2025.
There is an upside – battery electric car owners will pay the lowest band for the first year. However, this reduced rate is only for a short period, as EV drivers will be charged the standard annual rate after the initial year.
It’s important to note that even though battery electric vehicles are exempt from paying vehicle excise tax, you still need to register your electric car and tax your vehicle.
Yes – electric cars are exempt from the Congestion Charge and the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), meaning you can further benefit from making the switch in 2024.
Additionally, electric vehicles are often found to be cheaper in multiple areas when compared to ICEs. For example, as EVs have fewer moving parts, less can go wrong, meaning maintenance costs are significantly lower than their petrol/diesel counterparts.
The 2024 tax payment rates for cars registered on or after 1st April 2017 for the first year are:
| CO2 emissions | Diesel cars that meet the RDE2 standard and petrol car | Other diesel cars | Alternative fuel cars |
| 0 g/km | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| 1 to 50 g/km | £10 | £30 | £0 |
| 51 to 75 g/km | £30 | £130 | £20 |
| 76 to 90 g/km | £130 | £165 | £120 |
| 91 to 100 g/km | £165 | £185 | £155 |
| 101 to 110 g/km | £185 | £210 | £175 |
| 111 to 130 g/km | £210 | £255 | £200 |
| 131 to 150 g/km | £255 | £645 | £245 |
| 151 to 170 g/km | £645 | £1,040 | £635 |
| 171 to 190 g/km | £1,040 | £1,565 | £1,030 |
| 191 to 225 g/km | £1,565 | £2,220 | £1,555 |
| 226 to 255 g/km | £2,220 | £2,605 | £2,210 |
| Over 255 g/km | £2,605 | £2,605 | £2,595 |
The current vehicle tax payments for the second year and onwards are:
| Fuel type | Single 12-month payment |
| Petrol or diesel | £180 |
| Electric | £0 |
| Alternative | £170 |
Currently, you don’t have to pay road tax on vehicles that are electric until 2025; however, Benefit-in-Kind tax still has to be paid if you’re using a company EV.
If you have made the switch to electric and are interested in a faster, cheaper and more convenient route of charging, contact us today at 03333 44 96 99 or fill in the contact form below to discuss our industry-leading range of home EV chargers.
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This type of electric charger has it's own cable to charge your car.
This type of electric charger requires a seperate cable to charge your car.
Spread over a 60 month period.
Tenants and homeowners are eligible for finance.
You decide the amount of months.
Minimum of £1000.
We will contact you to process the credit application. Approval is subject to application, financial circumstances and borrowing history. 13.9% APR representative. T&Cs apply.
Your order is not confirmed until your application has been approved.
We lay SWA cable laid at 600mm deep, with a protective cable warning tape laid 150mm above the cable. These are laid on a sand or sifted sand soil bed then backfilled.
We position overhead cables at a minimum height of 3.5m and are run along a catenary wire. The cable run should not be accessible to vehicles.
Standard Installation
Our instant price is fixed if it falls within our standard installation package plus any additions that you have selected (extra cabling for example). This package covers the majority of homes in the UK. Before we undertake your installation we will carry out a digital survey to check that nothing has been missed. After reviewing the survey results some additional work may be required in order to complete your installation safely and to the required standards. If this is the case, we will contact you well before the installation date and advise the cost of any required work. You can then continue with your installation, or alternatively we will refund you in full if you do not want to proceed.
Included in our standard installation is :
• Fitting of a single phase charge point to a brick or plaster wall or other suitable permanent structure
• Up to 10 metres of cable, run and neatly clipped to the wall between the electricity supply meter / distribution board and the charge point.
• Routing of the cable through a drilled hole in a wall up to 500mm (20 inches) thick if this is needed.
• The fitting and testing of electrical connections and protections required for the charge point.
• An additional three way consumer unit, if required
• Installation of a Type A RCBO in an RCBO enclosure
• Up to 3 metres of plastic trunking to conceal interior wiring.
• An O-pen earth protection device if the charge point requires it. (This is NOT an earth rod)
• Up to 4 hours of labour from your installer to complete the work.
• Electrical testing of the whole installation.
• Handover and setup of the charge point and any app that may be needed.
Not included in our standard installation (additional work) :
• Where the installation requires additional cabling over and above the amount you have told us about.
• Upgrade/replacement of the main incoming supply fuse where the local DNO (eg Northern Powergrid) would need to attend site.
• If the charge point is to be mounted on a post/pedestal rather than an existing wall and where you have not selected a post as an extra cost option in your order.
• Installation of a charge point to a three phase supply.
• Where gas and water mains bonding (earthing) is not in place at your property. If this is not in place, additional work would be required before installation of the charge point.
• Any groundwork that has not been selected during the order process.
A Surge Protection Device is not included in our standard installation.
What else you need to know :
• On the day of installation, please ensure that the area around your consumer unit (fuse box), incoming electricity supply meter and proposed charge point location (including where the cable is expected to be run) is clear and free of obstructions.
• We will need your WiFi password as part of the installation process in order to connect your charge point to the internet. Please have this available for the installer. Details will not be kept.
• The charge point must be on your own designated off road parking.
• The charger will be fixed in line with current guidelines at a height where it cannot be hit by a vehicle.
• Our installers are not able to enter loft spaces; lift floorboards or flooring; take apart any furniture of work above a height of 2m. If you anticipate that any of this may be required, then please contact us and we can discuss in more detail and provide you with a quotation.
• Should there be extreme weather conditions our installers may not be able to continue with you installation if it is not safe to do so (for example flooding). They will always do their best to complete the work where they can.
If you have any questions then please contact our customer service team who will be happy to help. Please also read our terms and conditions.
