Road tax on electric cars: what you pay now and from 2028

Do you pay road tax on electric cars? Yes. EVs lost their exemption on 1st April 2025, so they're taxed similarly to petrol and diesel cars now. A new electric car costs £10 to tax in its first year, then the standard rate of £200 a year in the 2026/27 tax year. Most used EVs pay that same £200, or £20 if they were first registered between 1st March 2001 and 31st March 2017.

From April 2028, a 3p per mile charge comes in too. Here's how it all works, and what that new charge could cost you.

• Electric cars have paid road tax since 1st April 2025.
• Used electric cars pay based on when they were first registered, not when you bought them. Most pay £200 a year in the 2026/27 tax year, and those registered between 1st March 2001 and 31st March 2017 pay £20.
• A new EV costs £10 to tax in its first year, then £200 a year in the 2026/27 tax year.
• EVs registered since 1st April 2025 with a list price over £50,000 pay an extra £440 a year for five years, starting from the second year.
• From April 2028, electric cars will also pay 3p per mile, and plug-in hybrids pay 1.5p. You'll pay this on top of road tax.

Yes. How much you pay now depends on when your car was first registered and, for newer cars, its list price. 

EV drivers previously didn’t pay road tax, but as they’ve become more and more popular, the government has understandably started to charge road tax on EVs. Since 1st April 2025, electric cars have paid Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), the tax most people call road tax. 

Road tax is a yearly tax on using or keeping a vehicle on public roads, collected by the DVLA. You need it in place before you drive.

The government Budget in November 2025 added a per-mile charge for EVs from 2028, which we cover below. 

Electric car road tax in the 2026/27 tax year is £200 a year for most EVs, new or used. Brand new EVs pay £10 for their first year, then £200.

Those who drive an EV first registered between 1st March 2001 and 31st March 2017 pay £20. 

And if your EV was registered on or after 1st April 2025 with a list price over £50,000, you'll pay an extra £440 a year for five years.

Rates for the 2026/27 tax year, from GOV.UK. Road tax rates usually change each April.

If you own a used electric car, your road tax depends on when the car was first registered, not when you bought it. You'll find that date on the log book (V5C). In the 2026/27 tax year, most used EVs pay £200 a year, and those first registered between 1st March 2001 and 31st March 2017 pay £20.

Buying a used EV registered on or after 1st April 2025? Check its list price when new. If it was over £50,000, the expensive car supplement stays with the car, so you'll pay it for whatever's left of years two to six, even if you paid far less for it second-hand. You can check a car's tax status on GOV.UK before you buy.

Shopping for a used EV? You can also buy ex-lease electric cars through our partnership with car360.

The expensive car supplement is the extra £440 a year for pricier cars. The list price is the car's published price before any discounts, so a deal from the dealer doesn't get you under the limit. For electric cars the limit is £50,000. For petrol and diesel cars, it's £40,000.

You don't pay it straight away. It starts the second time you tax the car and runs for five years, which means years two to six. In those years, you'll pay £640 a year: the £200 standard rate plus the £440 supplement. From year seven, you're back to the standard rate.

Here’s an example: say you buy a new EV with a list price of £55,000 in the 2026/27 tax year. At today's rates, you'd pay £10 in year one, £640 a year in years two to six, and £200 a year after that. That's £3,210 over the first six years. 

An EV under £50,000 would pay £1,010 in road tax over the same six years. This is an example only. Rates usually change each April, so your real figures will probably be different.

You start paying road tax when the car is first registered. For a new electric car, the £10 first-year rate is paid at registration and covers the first 12 months. After that, you pay the standard rate each year, plus the expensive car supplement if it applies.

Buying a used EV? The road tax doesn't transfer to you with the car, and what you pay depends on its first registration date (see what used EV owners pay above).

The 3p per mile charge will start from 1st April 2028. You'll start paying it the first time you renew your road tax after that date.

The 3p per mile tax is a new charge on electric cars that starts on 1st April 2028. Its official name is Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED), but we'll call it the per-mile charge. Fully electric cars will pay 3p for every mile they drive, and plug-in hybrids will pay 1.5p. This is in addition to your road tax.

Why bring it in? The government says EV drivers don't pay anything like fuel duty, which petrol and diesel drivers pay on every litre. Here's how it will work:

1. When you renew your road tax, you give a mileage reading from your car.
2. You estimate how many miles you'll drive in the year ahead.
3. You pay for those miles upfront, or spread the cost across the year.
4. At the end of the year, your real mileage is checked against your estimate, and the difference is balanced out.

The 3p rate will rise with inflation (CPI) from the 2029/30 tax year. It applies to cars only, including fully electric, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen cars.

It depends on how far you drive. At 3p a mile, 5,000 miles a year adds £150 and 10,000 miles adds £300. Add the £200 standard rate, and a driver doing 5,000 to 10,000 miles could pay around £350 to £500 a year from April 2028.

An example only. It assumes an electric car with a list price under £50,000, and uses the standard rate for the 2026/27 tax year because the 2028/29 rate hasn't been set. The 3p rate rises with inflation from the 2029/30 tax year. A plug-in hybrid pays 1.5p a mile, so £120 at 8,000 miles.

In most cases, yes, though the gap is smaller than it used to be. After the first year, electric, petrol and diesel cars registered since April 2017 all pay the same £200 standard rate. The savings come in the first year and at the pricier end of the market.

• The first year. A new EV pays £10. A new petrol or diesel car pays a first-year rate based on its CO2 emissions, which can run to thousands of pounds for the highest emitters.
• The expensive car supplement. Applies to EVs worth over £50,000. Petrol and diesel cars pay it if they’re worth over £40,000.
• From April 2028. EVs start paying 3p a mile. Petrol and diesel drivers keep paying fuel duty every time they fill up.

Road tax is only one part of what you pay to drive, though. Don’t let this talk of costs distract you from the huge fuel savings you can make by switching to an electric car. A full charge at home can cost just £4.32 in a typical EV, compared with £37.74 for the same amount of miles in an equivalent petrol car.

You pay road tax on an electric car the same way as any other car. You can tax your car online on GOV.UK, by phone with the DVLA, or at a Post Office that handles vehicle tax.

You'll need a reference number from one of these:

• Your road tax reminder letter from the DVLA
• Your log book (V5C) in your name
• The green new keeper slip from the log book, if you've just bought the car

You can pay for a year in one go, or by Direct Debit every month or every six months. Spreading it out comes with a 5% surcharge, so paying yearly works out cheapest. From April 2028, the per-mile charge will be paid through the same system, when you renew.

If you lease an electric car through Octopus EV, road tax is included in your monthly payment. That's the case whether you lease it yourself, or get it through your employer with salary sacrifice. We tax the car and renew it every year, so there's nothing for you to remember. 

With our personal lease, MOTs and routine servicing sit in the same monthly payment as your road tax. With salary sacrifice, the monthly cost covers the car, insurance, servicing, maintenance, tyres and breakdown cover.

There are various charging offers available too, for both home and public charging. It depends on the car you choose so check what offers are available when you order. You can also switch to Intelligent Octopus Go - EV Saver, Octopus Energy's home charging tariff, which is exclusively discounted for Octopus EV drivers.

Plug-in hybrids will pay 1.5p per mile from 1st April 2028, half the rate for fully electric cars. That's on top of their normal road tax. Hybrids that can't be plugged in aren't covered by the per-mile charge. They still pay road tax, and fuel duty on the petrol they use.

No. The 3p per mile charge sits alongside road tax rather than replacing it. From April 2028, electric car drivers will pay both: the standard rate of road tax each year, plus 3p for every mile they drive. The per-mile rate will rise with inflation from the 2029/30 tax year.

No, not under the current plans. The government has said the per-mile charge applies to cars only, covering fully electric cars, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen cars. Most electric vans pay the standard rate of road tax for vans, but they won't pay the 3p per mile charge when it starts in April 2028.

No. Road tax doesn't pass to the new owner when a car is sold. If you buy a used electric car, you'll need to tax it before you drive it, using the reference on the green new keeper slip from the log book. The seller gets a refund for any full months left.

Yes, since the full exemption ended on 25th December 2025. From 2nd January 2026, electric cars registered for Auto Pay get a 25% discount, so they pay £13.50 a day instead of £18. That discount is due to drop to 12.5% in March 2030. Electric cars don't pay the ULEZ charge, because they meet its standards.