On Labour's EV 3 P Per mile charge...

Labour's new plan for electric cars is to charge EV users based on how many miles they drive.

This move is motivated as far as I can tell by crude financial motives - to make up for the reduced road tax coming in as fewer and fewer people drive fossil fuelled vehicles... this road tax does pay for, well, our roads, after all!

Starting in April 2028, if you have a battery electric vehicle, you will pay 3 pence a mile. If it's a plug-in hybrid, it's 1.5 pence. The government thinks this new tax could bring in about £1.1 billion in its first year, maybe even £1.9 billion by 2030–31.

A fair idea to link tax to miles...?

Actually I think to some extent this is true... the more your drive the more you are likely to put wear into the roads, but on that logic, bigger heavier cars should also be charged more too, and actually I think they are.

So this does make sense... and at 3 pence per mile, that's £300 for a typical 10K mile usage a year. Which isn't too bad.

Another, you might say necessary upside is that this will clearly help get the essential funds needed for road upkeep and other public expenses. In one sense this move isn't really about politics but just an unavoidable financial adjustment to fill the gaps left by the shift to electric. As more EVs hit the road, less fuel duty comes in, and the government feels it has to act.

The downsides...

Of course, not everyone's thrilled about it. Many in the car industry are worried this tax could slow down people buying EVs, right when officials want to speed that up. The Office for Budget Responsibility even hinted that a per-mile tax could mean hundreds of thousands fewer EV sales over the next ten years. That could mess with both climate goals and the UK's own EV market.

This policy also sends mixed messages: we're offering incentives to buy EVs, but then penalizing drivers for using them. Industry groups are also questioning how they'll even track mileage. Will self-reporting during MOT tests really be accurate and fair?

Personally as an old-ish diesel car driver I don't really get this, I now pay £20 a month and there is no incentive for me to buy an EV, which is actually fine by me, I've got coming up for 80K miles on the clock and I am quite happy to try and take this to 130K.... I think that's my goal.

Final thoughts...

Maybe a use-based tax is a fairer way to pay for roads, instead of giving EVs a free pass. Right now, drivers of cars that pollute more pay a lot through fuel duty, while EV owners pay little. A per-mile tax tries to level that playing field, even if it risks making buyers a little less excited about electric cars.