Introducing a pay-per-mile tax on electric vehicles (EV) would penalise the drivers set to benefit the most from electrification in rural areas, research has shown.
Analysis by the BVRLA and New Automotive has shown that rural areas, especially those in Scotland, are the highest mileage constituencies in the UK, constituting 18 of the 50 highest mileage areas.
For a driver to visit local amenities, such as a school or workplace, takes significantly longer in rural areas than in cities. In addition, urban areas also have choice and access to other affordable transport modes, including buses, trains, cycling and walking routes.
As a result, the BVRLA has argued a flat pay-per-mile rate is “structurally unfair for rural, semi-rural, and post-industrial communities”, where public transport is “non-existent”, median incomes are lower – and proportional cost of eVED is therefore higher, charging infrastructure is less developed, and journey times are inherently longer.
The findings expose what campaigners are calling an “EV postcode penalty”: a system structurally weighted against drivers least able to reduce their mileage, and least likely to have access to the public transport, charging infrastructure, or household income that would make EV ownership straightforward.
At 3p per mile, the proposed PPM eVED rate appears to disproportionately hit urban constituencies with large EV fleets, but when considered by individual drivers, it reverses. Where car use is essential in rural areas, and where EV adoption has been slower, the per-driver burden is at its highest.
Toby Poston, Chief Executive, BVRLA, said:
“A flat pay-per-mile charge might look fair on paper, but its burden falls hardest on the drivers least able to avoid it. People who live in less connected areas don’t drive more because they want to: they drive more because they have no choice. Their towns don’t have the luxury of the network of trains, tubes and cycle lanes that make car-free living possible in cities.
“Under these proposals, a driver in Caithness or rural Norfolk will pay three times the annual road tax of someone in central London. Not because of how much they earn, or how much they pollute, but simply because of where they live. That is not a fair system.
“Any future eVED framework must account for the reality that for millions of people across this country, the car is not a lifestyle choice. It is the only option.”
Tanya Sinclair, CEO, Electric Vehicles UK, said:
“The geography of this data is damning. Rural drivers, fewer chargers, longer journeys, highest bills. That is the opposite of a fair transition.
“And this week the government quietly confirmed it won’t raise fuel duty either. So petrol gets cheaper in real terms while EV drivers are punished. If there is a coherent strategy here, it is not visible from the outside.”
In recent Electrifying.com research, in partnership with the AA, involving more than 13,000 non-EV drivers, 55% said pay-per-mile charging would make them less likely to switch to an EV.
Ginny Buckley, Chief Executive of Electrifying.com, the electric car buying and advice site, said:
“Pay-per-mile taxation might sound fair to those in Government, but for millions of drivers it will feel like yet another tax on everyday life. If you live in a rural area, driving isn’t a lifestyle choice, it’s a necessity, so there’s a real danger this creates an EV postcode penalty where the people with the fewest transport alternatives end up paying the most.
“The warning signs to Whitehall to think carefully about this policy are already there. This risks creating yet another barrier to switching.”
Image courtesy of the Green Car Guide
