From Zero to £335 - Electric van tax hike in April 2025

FrollyGreenGiant

In April 2025, electric vans that previously benefitted from £0 road tax are to be recategorised as Light Goods Vehicles (the same as any diesel van) and will be charged a whopping £335 in road tax (current 2024 tax which is likely to go up come April).

From £0 to £335 seems wholly disproportionate and the failure of DVLA and/or the Dept of Transport to differentiate between a gas guzzling unenvironmental diesel van and a zero emission fully electric van. Happy to pay some road tax, but surely there is less of an incentive to use electric vans for business.

I'd hope that some pressure from councils and big business that have invested in heavily in electric vans will influence a change. It flies in the face of trying to be green.

Received a letter from DVLA, checked online, and spoke to a DVLA advisor in person. Confirmed £0 to £335.

I drive a Nissan eNV200 with a small range of 85 miles and I'm a sole trader, using the van for transporting dogs for my doggie daycare business.

born_again

Even as a EV driver. It is only fair that we pay VED.
Maybe the budget will change things & put a higher band on vehicles with emissions.

You have to look at this from the point you are saving money on the actual running costs.
How much a mile does it cost you to charge at home compared to filling up with fuel?

FrollyGreenGiant

Happy with the efficiency of my van, one of the reasons I use it for my business. It keeps my costs down for my customers in a world of rising fuel prices. My gripe is the hike. Like you say, maybe DVLA/govt will see sense but the letters are going out pre-Budget.

FlorayG

The 'road tax' has nothing to do with what you drive, it's a tax paid to keep a vehicle on the road. You've had an exemption for a while in order to persuade you to go electric and now you are being returned to 'normal' levels of tax. I don't see any injustice in that. You've had your perk for the last few years

Goudy

But the EV is still far cheaper in overall tax to run than a petrol or diesel.

Petrol and Diesel both have fuel duty of around 53p a litre on them and VAT at 20% is also slapped on fuel.
That's £2.40 in fuel duty plus the VAT for every UK gallon of fuel.

If a small diesel van did 10,000 miles a year at an average 40 mpg, the 250 gallons or £600 in fuel duty alone.

An EV can charge at 5% VAT at home and 20% VAT via an on street charger and pays no fuel duty.

If you only charge at home and paid twice what a diesel van pays in VED, you'd still be better off than a diesel, for now.

Obviously this fuel duty revenue is going to dry up and someone is going to look elsewhere for it sooner rather than later.
This isn't the end of increasing revenues from EVs.

Car_54

FrollyGreenGiant said:

From £0 to £335 seems wholly disproportionate and the failure of DVLA and/or the Dept of Transport to differentiate between a gas guzzling unenvironmental diesel van and a zero emission fully electric van. Happy to pay some road tax, but surely there is less of an incentive to use electric vans for business.

it has nothing to do with the DVLA. They just implement what our elected representatives have decided.

Grumpy_chap

FrollyGreenGiant said:

In April 2025, electric vans that previously benefitted from £0 road tax are to be recategorised as Light Goods Vehicles (the same as any diesel van) and will be charged a whopping £335 in road tax (current 2024 tax which is likely to go up come April).

From £0 to £335 seems wholly disproportionate and the failure of DVLA and/or the Dept of Transport to differentiate between a gas guzzling unenvironmental diesel van and a zero emission fully electric van. Happy to pay some road tax, but surely there is less of an incentive to use electric vans for business.

I'd hope that some pressure from councils and big business that have invested in heavily in electric vans will influence a change. It flies in the face of trying to be green.

Received a letter from DVLA, checked online, and spoke to a DVLA advisor in person. Confirmed £0 to £335.

I drive a Nissan eNV200 with a small range of 85 miles and I'm a sole trader, using the van for transporting dogs for my doggie daycare business.

You can renew the VED in the last month that it is available at zero for a whole 12 months to delay the impact of this change (assuming no anti-forestalling measures are brought in between now and then).  This is possible even if the VED has not expired.  You will see a warning that the VED will be paid twice, but twice nothing is still nothing.

Mildly_Miffed

Car_54 said:

FrollyGreenGiant said:

From £0 to £335 seems wholly disproportionate and the failure of DVLA and/or the Dept of Transport to differentiate between a gas guzzling unenvironmental diesel van and a zero emission fully electric van. Happy to pay some road tax, but surely there is less of an incentive to use electric vans for business.

it has nothing to do with the DVLA. They just implement what our elected representatives have decided.

...and this is a change announced by Jeremy Hunt in the 2022 Autumn Statement, so there's been nearly two years to get used to the fact it's coming.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/introduction-of-vehicle-excise-duty-for-zero-emission-cars-vans-and-motorcycles-from-2025/introduction-of-vehicle-excise-duty-for-zero-emission-cars-vans-and-motorcycles-from-2025

In terms of the entire annual running costs of an electric van against a diesel one, this is a very small closing of the gap.

nottsphil

Respondents keep stating how much cheaper electric vehicles are to run without mentioning the decreasing longevity of the batteries. Factor in replacements and you'll get the true cost per mile. And then there's the larger capital outlay for EVs....

Nobbie1967

Diesel vans are paying for their ‘gas guzzling’ with a 55% tax on their fuel as opposed to 5% for home charging. Why shouldn’t EV drivers pay tax to use their vehicles like everybody else?

Mildly_Miffed

nottsphil said:

Respondents keep stating how much cheaper electric vehicles are to run without mentioning the decreasing longevity of the batteries. Factor in replacements and you'll get the true cost per mile.

After a decade or more of mass-market BEVs, haven't we all realised that's scaremongering guff yet?