From April 2028, electric car drivers in the UK will pay a per-mile charge on top of road tax. It was announced in the November 2025 Budget, it survived the consultation noise, and it's coming. The headline rate is 3p per mile for battery electric cars, with plug-in hybrids paying around half that. Here's what it means in actual money, and what we still don't know.
Why it's happening
No conspiracy required: fuel duty raises roughly £24 billion a year, and as drivers switch to electric, that revenue evaporates. A petrol driver currently pays about 6p per mile in fuel duty and VAT on it; the Treasury was never going to let that fall to zero. A per-mile charge for EVs is the first, crude version of the replacement. EV owners can reasonably grumble that the goalposts moved after they bought — first free road tax disappeared in 2025, now this — but the direction of travel was always obvious.
What it costs at your mileage
| Annual mileage | Annual charge at 3p/mile | Monthly equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| 5,000 | £150 | £12.50 |
| 8,000 | £240 | £20 |
| 10,000 | £300 | £25 |
| 15,000 | £450 | £37.50 |
| 20,000 | £600 | £50 |
For context, a 40 mpg petrol car pays roughly £600 in fuel duty (plus the VAT on it) over 10,000 miles. So even after the charge, an EV's tax burden per mile remains about half a petrol car's — before you even count the fuel saving itself.
Does it kill the case for going electric?
No, but it shaves it. Take a 10,000-mile driver charging mostly overnight at home: their charging costs around £180 a year versus roughly £1,590 for petrol (we walk through those numbers in the home charging guide). The pay-per-mile charge claws £300 back for the Treasury. The EV still comes out £1,000+ ahead on fuel alone. Where it stings is the marginal cases — low-mileage drivers and people reliant on public charging, for whom the EV advantage was already thin. If that might be you, run the numbers honestly: the calculator has a tick-box that adds the 2028 charge to your results so you can see your own before-and-after.
What we still don't know
- How mileage will be reported. The leading proposal is self-declared mileage at MOT/tax renewal, with spot checks — not GPS tracking. Expect the detail in secondary legislation before 2028.
- Whether the rate is locked. 3p is the announced starting rate. Like all tax rates, it can change in any Budget, and pressure to raise it will grow as fuel duty receipts fall further.
- Exemptions. Motorcycles, vans and disabled drivers' vehicles have been discussed for carve-outs or reduced rates; nothing is final.
- Whether petrol drivers eventually join. Most transport economists expect per-mile pricing to extend to all vehicles in the 2030s. EVs are the pilot group, not the target.