Sooner or later, it is going to dawn on the owners of electric cars that they have been enjoying one of the longest introductory free offers in history. The moment of realisation may even come tomorrow. That is when, for the first time, electric cars (EVs) are going to become liable to pay road tax. It won’t necessarily be too onerous. Drive an EV out of a showroom tomorrow and you will pay just £10 in car tax for the first year, rising to £195 for your second year of ownership and beyond. Owners of vehicles registered between 1 April 2017 and today will pay £195 a year. Those registered between 2001 and 2017 will be liable for £20 a year road tax.
Driving an electric car is about to get a lot more expensive
But the nasty sting will come in a year’s time. EVs, for the first time, will be liable for the Expensive Car Supplement which imposes a levy of £425 a year between the second and fifth years of a car’s existence – on any vehicle whose original list price was over £40,000.
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