Is the UK’s New Per-Mile EV Tax Already Slowing Electric Car Sales?

29 January 2026

Paul Francis

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Electric vehicles were once sold on a simple promise. Lower running costs, cleaner driving, and long-term savings compared to petrol and diesel cars. But a proposed change to how EV drivers are taxed is now raising uncomfortable questions about whether that promise is starting to unravel.

Black car speeds on a road with banknotes flying around. Green trees in the background, conveying a sense of urgency and motion.

Although the UK’s new per-mile road tax for electric vehicles will not come into force until 2028, evidence is already emerging that the policy is affecting consumer confidence and, by extension, electric car sales. For a market that relies heavily on momentum and public trust, even the prospect of higher future costs may be enough to change buying decisions today.

What is the new per-mile EV tax?

From April 2028, the UK government plans to introduce a distance-based road tax for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. The policy is often referred to as a pay-per-mile tax and sits under the broader reform of Vehicle Excise Duty for low-emission vehicles.

Under current proposals:

Fully electric vehicles will be charged around 3 pence per mile
Plug-in hybrid vehicles will be charged around 1.5 pence per mile

The tax is designed to replace revenue traditionally raised through fuel duty. As petrol and diesel use declines, the Treasury faces a growing gap in funding for roads and transport infrastructure. A mileage-based system is intended to ensure that all drivers contribute according to how much they use the road network.

A teal car parked at night under misty streetlights, with the license plate GK70 GYJ. The mood is mysterious and serene.

How will the tax be billed?

The government has indicated that the system will avoid live tracking or GPS monitoring. Instead, mileage will likely be declared annually when Vehicle Excise Duty is renewed, with odometer readings checked at MOTs or similar inspections.

Drivers who exceed their declared mileage would pay the difference later, while those who drive less may be eligible for adjustments. In theory, the system mirrors existing administrative processes rather than introducing constant surveillance, although privacy concerns remain part of the public debate.

What could this cost the average driver?

The financial impact depends entirely on how much someone drives.

A driver covering around 8,000 miles per year, close to the UK average, could face an additional cost of roughly £240 annually from the mileage charge alone. Higher mileage drivers could see costs rise well above £300 per year.

This is on top of standard road tax charges that EV drivers will already be paying by that point. While electric cars may still be cheaper overall than petrol or diesel vehicles when maintenance and energy costs are included, the margin is narrowing.

Is this already affecting EV sales?

While the tax has not yet been implemented, modelling by economic and automotive analysts suggests that future running costs play a major role in purchase decisions.

Forecasts linked to Office for Budget Responsibility modelling indicate that the introduction of a mileage-based tax could result in hundreds of thousands fewer electric vehicles on UK roads over the next several years than previously expected. This reflects not a collapse in demand, but a measurable slowing of adoption.

Industry reporting has also highlighted weaker growth in EV registrations during late 2025, with some manufacturers experiencing sharp drops. While multiple factors are at play, including vehicle pricing and charging infrastructure concerns, uncertainty around future taxation is increasingly cited as part of the problem.

For many buyers, the appeal of switching to electric rested on cost certainty. Introducing a new variable into that equation, even years in advance, creates hesitation.

Why perception matters as much as policy

Electric vehicle adoption relies heavily on confidence. Buyers are often making long-term decisions based on projected savings over five to ten years. When policy signals change, even if implementation is distant, that confidence can be shaken.

The per-mile tax is fiscally logical from the government’s perspective, but from the consumer’s point of view it feels like the goalposts are moving. Some drivers now question whether EVs will continue to be favoured, or whether future costs will keep rising as adoption grows.

This uncertainty does not just affect private buyers. Fleet operators, leasing companies, and charging infrastructure providers also base investments on predictable demand. Slower adoption can ripple across the entire ecosystem.

Urban and rural impacts

The tax is likely to affect drivers differently depending on where they live.

Urban drivers who rely on short journeys and public transport may feel little impact. Rural drivers, who often have no alternative to longer car journeys, could be disproportionately affected. For those households, the mileage charge risks becoming a penalty rather than a fair usage fee.

This has raised concerns about whether the policy adequately reflects regional differences in transport access.

A delicate moment for EV policy

The UK is at a critical stage in its transition away from petrol and diesel vehicles. Sales targets, emissions goals, and infrastructure investment all depend on steady growth in EV adoption.

The per-mile tax is intended to solve a long-term funding problem, but its timing and messaging matter. Introducing uncertainty too early risks slowing momentum before alternatives are fully in place.

Electric vehicles are unlikely to disappear from the UK market. But whether they become the default choice for the average driver may depend less on technology and more on how stable and predictable government policy feels in the years ahead.

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A Short History of the British Christmas: From Medieval Feasts to Modern Traditions

Paul Francis
Dec 9, 2025
3 min read

British Christmas can feel timeless, as if it has always looked the way it does now. But many of the traditions we assume are ancient are surprisingly recent, while others have taken long, winding routes through religion, politics, literature, and commerce.

Lit Christmas tree in a cozy library with vintage bookshelves, an armchair, boxes, and lamps creating a warm, festive ambience. — The Victorian Christmas recreated at Harewood House, Leeds, UK. By jcw1967 from Leeds, UK

Christmas in Britain is a blend of old midwinter customs, Christian ritual, Victorian reinvention, and modern marketing. That mix is part of what makes it feel so familiar and so changeable.

Before Christmas was Christmas

Long before Christmas became the centrepiece of the British winter, midwinter was already a time for light, feasting and community. In the darkest part of the year, people gathered because survival depended on it. Food was shared. Fires were kept going. Stories were told.

Many winter customs that later attached themselves to Christmas began as practical and seasonal expressions: marking the turn of the year, and making the dark months bearable.

Medieval Christmas: twelve days and a lot of noise

By medieval times, Christmas was major. It was not just one day. It stretched across twelve days, from Christmas Day to Twelfth Night, and it came with feasting, church services, games and mischief.

This was the era of the Lord of Misrule, when social order was temporarily inverted through jest and celebration. It was rowdy, communal and very public. The emphasis was less on cosy domestic scenes and more on collective festivity.

A Christmas crackdown: the Puritans and the ban

Not everyone approved. In the 1600s, during a period of Puritan influence, Christmas celebrations were viewed by some as excessive and unbiblical. In parts of Britain, particularly during the Interregnum period, there were attempts to suppress Christmas festivities.

Even where Christmas was not fully erased from life, it was certainly contested. This is part of the reason British Christmas traditions have a sense of reinvention. They have repeatedly had to be defended, adapted and revived.

Victorian reinvention: the Christmas we recognise

If you want to find the roots of much of modern British Christmas, look to the 1800s.

Victorian Britain reshaped Christmas into something more home-centred and sentimental. This is the period that helped popularise:

The family Christmas as the core scene
The idea of Christmas as a moral season of generosity
Christmas cards and more structured gift giving
The Christmas tree becoming a mainstream feature

Literature played a huge role here, especially through storytelling that tied Christmas to compassion and social conscience. This is the era that gave Christmas its famous mixture of warmth and guilt: enjoy the feast, remember the poor, behave better in the new year.

The rise of the modern meal

Many people assume turkey has always been the centre of the Christmas table. In reality, British Christmas meals have varied with class, region and era. Goose held a strong place for many households, and other meats and pies were common too.

The “standard” Christmas dinner as many now picture it is the product of cultural convergence: what food was available, what people could afford, what was fashionable, and what supermarkets later made easy to reproduce.

The twentieth century: media, music and mass Christmas

The twentieth century turned Christmas into a national shared experience, helped by broadcast media. Christmas became something the whole country watched together, listened to together, and increasingly purchased together.

This is when Christmas gained an annual rhythm that still shapes the month:

The build-up starts earlier
Entertainment becomes seasonal programming
Advertising creates shared scripts about how Christmas “should” look

Christmas begins to function like a cultural performance. People participate because it feels expected, but also because it offers a rare national sense of togetherness.

Modern Christmas: tradition and choice collide

Today, British Christmas is both traditional and highly personalised. Some families repeat rituals that feel ancient. Others create new ones. Some keep Christmas religiously. Others make it cultural.

This flexibility is part of Christmas’s modern power. It can be about faith, family, food, memory, charity, humour, survival, or simply time off work.

British Christmas is best understood not as one fixed tradition, but as a living patchwork. It has survived bans, changed with empire and industry, been shaped by books and broadcasts, and now sits somewhere between nostalgia and modern life.

The reason it feels so important is simple. It is less about what Christmas is supposed to be, and more about what people need it to be.