Right, so there’s going to be a 3p per mile charge for electric vehicles from April 28 and that means you’re going to pay to drive, literally. Precisely how the Gov will track your mileage is not known but what we do know is the cost of driving is set at 3p per mile for electric vehicles and 1.5p per mile for plug-in hybrids. A pay per mile tax has been on the cards for a while now, and while it’s never nice to pay more to get around, the going is still good.
3p per mile is £3 per 100 miles. Easy stuff. But the calculation is even easier with our 3p per mile calculator. If you want to instantly calculate the cost to drive your electric car at 3p per mile, you can do so below using our EV pay per mile calculator:
Pay per mile calculator
Calculate your estimated road tax costs under the proposed UK pay-per-mile scheme
Cost breakdown by mileage
| Annual mileage | Daily | Weekly | Monthly | Yearly |
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Pay per mile calculator features
- Instant cost breakdown – See your estimated daily, weekly, monthly and yearly road tax costs in real-time
- Vehicle type presets – Quick selection between electric vehicles (3p/mile), hybrids (2p/mile), or custom rates for flexibility
- Interactive sliders – Easily adjust your average daily mileage with intuitive slider controls
- Annual mileage projection – Automatically calculates your yearly mileage based on daily driving habits
- Comprehensive comparison table – Compare costs across common annual mileages from 5,000 to 20,000 miles
“A 3p per mile tax seems unfair but petrol and diesel drivers still pay a crazy 52p per litre. The new system brings us closer to parity. I hate having to spend more but the truth is any extra miles I do are easily paid off with a better public charging rate.” – Alfred Maxwell, Top Charger writer.
“Personally I dislike the tax. I understand the Government needs to plug the gap in revenue from falling fuel duty 3p per mile is going to hit people who use their cars a lot HARD. Hopefully the Government roll out an allowance for people” – Jakk Ogden, senior editor, Top Charger.
Reader insights
How does everyone else feel about the 3p per mile tax? Let’s find out:
“Retired last year, the car sits on the drive most days. Probably do 1,500 miles annually at most. Genuinely pleased I won’t be subsidising the motorway warriors anymore. Seems sensible.” — Howard, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Dorset
“The cost of living has me up against the wall and now I face being taxed over £120 per month for the 4,000 miles I have to cover for work. My electric car is still cheaper than diesel but that’s only because I can charge at home.” – Daniel, MG4, Shropshire
“I’m a community nurse covering rural Devon. There’s no bus, no train, just me and my car doing 50+ miles daily between patients. This isn’t a lifestyle choice, it’s my job. Feels like we’re being punished for keeping the NHS running.” — Geraint, Kia Niro EV, Exeter
“Bought my EV specifically because of zero road tax. Changed the goalposts, haven’t they? Still, 3p a mile is nothing compared to what I was paying in diesel. People need to get some perspective.” — Marcus, Tesla Model 3, Leeds
“I get why they’re doing it—the tax revenue has to come from somewhere as petrol cars disappear. But 3p feels like a starting point, not an end point. What’s it going to be in five years? 10p? 15p?” — James, BMW iX1, Edinburgh
“London here. I use the Tube for work and only take the car out on weekends to see my parents in Surrey. Maybe 3,000 miles a year. This actually saves me money compared to the flat VED rate coming in 2025.” — Aisha, Fiat 500e, Hackney
“Everyone moaning needs to remember what petrol cost us. I was spending £300 a month on diesel before I switched. Even with this tax, I’m saving a fortune. Charge at home, drive for pennies. Stop complaining.” — Fiona, MG5, Cardiff
“Honestly? I saw this coming the moment I bought an EV. The government was never going to let £35 billion in fuel duty just disappear. At least this way I can control my costs by driving less when I can.” — Harriet, Polestar 2, Guildford
“Self-employed electrician. The van is my office, my workshop, and my lifeline. I’m looking at an extra £400+ a year on top of everything else that’s gone up. At what point do customers just stop calling?” — Darren, Ford E-Transit, Newcastle
“Spent £45,000 on this car partly because of the tax benefits. Two years later, they pull the rug out. I’m not against paying my share, but there should be a grace period for early adopters who took the risk.” — Elliot, Audi Q4 e-tron, Cheshire
“Track every mile I do for work expenses anyway, so this changes nothing for me practically. Company covers it. Feel for the self-employed though—they’re getting squeezed from every direction.” — Adnan, Mercedes EQA, Reading
Pay per mile road tax for electric cars
For decades, fuel duty has been a reliable cash cow for the Treasury, generating around £25 billion annually. But as electric vehicle adoption accelerates, with projections suggesting six million EVs on British roads by 2028, this income stream is rapidly drying up.
The government has already begun plugging the gap by extending Vehicle Excise Duty to electric vehicles, but this won’t be enough to offset the losses. Enter a 3p per mile tax, a usage-based taxation model for 2028.
Regional impact and fairness concerns
The pay-per-mile model raises thorny questions about geographical equity. Rural drivers, who often lack public transport alternatives and must travel greater distances for work, shopping, and services, would bear a disproportionate burden.
A farmer in Northumberland covering 15,000 miles annually would pay £450, while a city dweller in Manchester with excellent public transport links might drive just 5,000 miles and pay £150.
This disparity could inadvertently punish those who’ve already made the environmentally conscious choice to switch to electric vehicles, particularly in areas where EV adoption has been strongest. Scotland, which has some of the UK’s most remote communities, could see residents facing bills that dwarf those of urban counterparts.
Implementation challenges
Perhaps the most contentious aspect of any pay-per-mile scheme is enforcement. The government faces a delicate balancing act between effective monitoring and privacy concerns. Unlike fuel duty, which is collected invisibly at the pump, distance-based taxation requires active measurement of vehicle usage.
The most straightforward option—annual mileage declarations verified at MOT—seems likely. This approach mirrors systems already used for company car taxation and would avoid the dystopian overtones of GPS tracking. However, it creates obvious loopholes. What stops drivers from simply underreporting their mileage? Will there be penalties for inaccurate declarations, and if so, how severe?
Some European countries have experimented with more sophisticated solutions. Switzerland’s system uses on-board units that automatically calculate charges, while Germany has trialled GPS-based tracking for commercial vehicles. But these approaches come with significant infrastructure costs and privacy implications that make them politically toxic in the UK.
International comparisons
Britain wouldn’t be pioneering this approach. New Zealand introduced per-mile charges for diesel vehicles decades ago and extended them to electric vehicles in April 2024 at roughly 5p per mile. The New Zealand government frames this as a fairness issue—ensuring all road users contribute to infrastructure maintenance regardless of their fuel type.
The Netherlands has gone further, announcing plans to replace traditional road tax entirely with a per-kilometre charge of 6-7p for all vehicles by 2030. This represents a more radical overhaul of the taxation system, treating road usage as a utility rather than applying differential rates based on vehicle type.
These international examples suggest the UK’s proposals are part of a broader global trend, but they also highlight the challenges. New Zealand’s system has faced criticism for administrative complexity, while Dutch proposals have sparked fierce political debate.
The industry’s perspective
Automotive manufacturers and trade bodies have reacted with alarm to the proposals. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders argues that additional taxation on electric vehicles could undermine the government’s own zero-emission vehicle mandate, which requires 80% of new car sales to be electric by 2030.
Their concern isn’t unfounded. Electric vehicles already face a price premium compared to petrol equivalents, and many buyers are motivated primarily by running cost savings. If that financial advantage erodes through taxation, demand could stall precisely when the industry needs it to soar.
What happens next
You pay 3p per mile from 2028, or 1.5p per mile if you have a PHEV. That’s it, literally, there is nothing you can do to stop it. All electric vehicles will have a 3p per mile rate.
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