Electric vehicle (EV) owners have saved a cumulative £47.6m by renewing Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) before the new road tax regime on 1 April.
The findings came from research by online car retailer Cinch. The firm discovered the large sum from a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, which was submitted to the Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) to uncover the number of EV owners renewing road tax in March, compared to the same period last year.
It follows EV owners being hit by new VED regulations, which means paying £195 for electric vehicles registered between April 2017 and 31 March this year. In addition, new EVs that are registered after 1 April 2025 pay £10 for the first year, rising to £195 for the second year.
There is also the luxury car supplement of £425 for all vehicles with a list price over £40,000, paid from the second to the sixth year that the vehicles are on the road. Electric vans also have to pay £355 annually, matching ICE equivalents.
Charging associations and motoring groups have consistently lobbied the UK Government to exempt EVs from such taxes to incentivise consumer take-up.
A number of locations saw very large increases in EV VED renewals, including Bath, with a 14,534% rise, and Falkirk in Scotland, with 7,219% growth. As a result, Bath residents saved some £4.1m in VED costs.
Bath has a Clean Air Zone, which may explain some of the dramatic uplift in EVs for the area, with full exemption for all electric, hybrid and fuel cell vehicles – although older private ICE vehicles are also exempt, unlike in other cities, such as London.
Elsewhere, West London had a 5,284% increase, Birmingham had a 3,236% rise, and areas including Bolton, Leeds and Derby were all up by more than 2,000%.
Sam Sheehan, motoring editor at Cinch, said:
“It goes to show how savvy EV drivers were ahead of the road tax changes – and how useful consumer advice led to savings for so many people.
“Such a big increase in renewals shows just how many EV drivers might have got themselves another year of road tax-free motoring, and who wouldn’t want to save £195 if they had the chance?”
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