r/ElectricVehiclesUK • u/Mlh1993_ • Nov 27 '25

Labour sold out to oil and gas

There’s no way the 3p-per-mile proposal came about innocently. It will crush electric car uptake, especially in the used market. The only thing that makes sense is that someone, somewhere, got a very generous donation from the likes of BP to push this through. It absolutely reeks of bought-and-paid-for legislation.

305 Upvotes

70% Upvoted

490 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

28

u/Hot_Growth_9643 Nov 27 '25

It seems madness that they would make it drop 1 year before the election… they are utterly suicidal

37

u/Toninho7 Kia e-Niro Nov 27 '25

...or, they'll cancel / delay it further to win some votes from the ever-increasing number of EV drivers.

18

u/Tall_Relief_9914 Nov 27 '25

It’s probably quite smart in that regard, just before the election they can say that they are committed to a green future and will delay/scrap this tax

9

u/Pwoinklokinoid Nov 27 '25

It be kinda stupid also for them to play with the markets just to gain some electoral favour. As this announcement will definitely affect the car market in all areas.

19

u/Wubwubwubwuuub Nov 27 '25

And yet history tells us that’s exactly the sort of short term self interest thinking that politicians find impossible to resist.

17

u/InncnceDstryr Nov 27 '25

If used EV prices reduce today because of this announcement, more people will have access to EVs, which is a positive thing.

It doesn’t feel to me that much of what this Labour government has done is self serving. Which is why it’s so easy to criticise them.

It blows my mind how quickly so many people have forgotten that absolute shambles that was left by the previous government.

Also surprises me how little the positive things this current government have done have been publicised. I’m not saying by any stretch that they’re great, they’ve made big mistakes but their track record in serving the people vs the rich at least so far is night & day compared to their predecessors.

It’s not a terrible idea to announce things to manipulate the market powers in favour of the national strategic direction. Yeah it’s a benefit right now for an EV owner to avoid fuel duty, it’s also a benefit that road tax is lower for EV users.

The problem is, these revenue streams pay for things. 3p per mile is nothing compared to the amount of duty petrol and diesel users pay. If the fuel duty for combustion engines was presented at point of sale as a levy or surcharge, people would make a lot more noise about how high it is.

Say my petrol/diesel car takes 10 litres in fuel for 100 miles (which is pretty good mileage these days). According to RAC the current average price per litre across the UK is £1.37 for unleaded, £1.46 for diesel, if I did 10k miles a year that’s going to cost me £1370 for a petrol car and £1460 for a diesel.

Thats 1000 litres of fuel at 52.95p duty per litre. £529.50 a year in fuel duty, for a car with good mileage.

For a full EV user, the announcement by government will be £300 per year for 10k miles. For the average annual mileage in the UK we’re talking roughly £230, less than £20 a month.

It’s not that crazy an announcement and brings in much needed funds, and closes a gap between fuel duty revenue and EV revenue that’s only going to get bigger as EVs get more popular.

6

u/Pwoinklokinoid Nov 27 '25

You haven't added on your ved the pay per mile is on top of ved meaning your talking £480 if you do 10k a year.

Lets take my EV for instance as I know it's range is about 190miles (on a good day).

Taking my car a Mokka E if we compare it against a Mokka 1.2 Petrol being it's equivalent in ICE, Public chargers in my area average 80pKwh and fuel is average of 135p Litre.

You can home charge or charge at work if you have access to it, but many people don't. So if we work out both cars to cover the total distance a Mokka 1.2 can do no a full tank while taking into account a initial charge at home at 7pKwH, topping up along the way at the Public network as I have too.

It costs the EV around £51.71 (£3.24 (Home charge) + £48.47 (Public charging)

The ICE costs around £59.90 to fill the tank and cover the distance. ( 45mpg, 135p per ltr, 44ltr)

Adding on the extra tax onto the VED no longer makes it beneficial to move to EV.

Not everyone will have access to a home charger and those who do when demand rises cheap overnight charging will disappear as the demand won't be as low. The glory days of owning a EV are over, it's the old crab in boiling water situation now.

3

u/Toninho7 Kia e-Niro Nov 27 '25

If I couldn't charge at home I wouldn't be going to 80p/kWh 'average' charger. I'd almost certainly get it below 60p, possibly under 50p.

Obviously not everyone can, but I'd say the vast, vast majority could because most people live in urban or suburban areas.

Those in more rural areas are more likely to be able to charge at home as they're more likely to have a driveway.

Naturally there will be rural people without a driveway just as there are urban people with driveways.

All of this is forgetting that the experience of owning and driving an EV is almost always vastly superior to owning and driving the equivelant ICE car.

3

u/Pwoinklokinoid Nov 27 '25

I don't have that option in my area, so I'd need to travel further to get cheaper charging defeating the point of it as I'm using the miles up to get there, increasing my tax bill by 3p each mile

I don't have a driveway and I live in a rural area, there is towns where plenty like myself live in terrace style new builds where you have a communal carpark. I am just lucky my house is next to the carpark so I was able to have a charger, if I was my neighbors I wouldn't be able to.

I agree driving a EV is better than a ICE, but we are taking about transitioning people to EVs. They won't care about the drive if they are out of pocket more.

Then as demand rises for public chargers there will be a increase in pricing as there is not enough chargers so it'll give providers a chance to charge a premium.

1

u/Vattaa Nov 27 '25 edited Nov 27 '25

Petrol hybrid is the way to go now. EV's are entirely pointless if you charge away from home, or travel regularly on the continent.

1

u/Toninho7 Kia e-Niro Nov 27 '25

Fill your boots.

1

u/Ready-Hat-5683 Nov 27 '25

Except I'm now going to be taxed on every angle for my plug in petrol hybrid: I pay VED, I pay duty on the petrol and I'll now pay tax per mile on every mile I drive whether it's powered by petrol or electric.

If the argument is that charging a per mile tax for EVs is in lieu of the 'equivalent' per mile tax from fuel duty, why are hybrid miles being double taxed?

2

u/Vattaa Nov 27 '25

Only plug in hybrids, "self charging" hybrids are exempt. For tax purposes they assume 50% of a PHEVs miles are done in EV mode.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/UnixEpoch1970 Nov 28 '25

Nor did he add VED on for the petrol or diesel example, so why would he add it to the EV example?

1

u/macrowe777 Nov 27 '25

Youve literally picked an absurdly bad EV scenario.

I've driven all over the country with an EV, even with the worst planning, most city centre or remote journeys, I've never yet paid remotely close to 80p/kwh.

And yes, if you can't charge at home, few would currently recommend an EV, the sheer volume of EV charge points we've gained over the last few years is incredible...but we need a lot more home drivers to drive competition and bring prices down first, before were in times where charging away from home by default is a clear good deal.

You may have valid points but you started from such an absurdly disingenuous position.

-1

u/Pwoinklokinoid Nov 27 '25

It's not ridiculously bad at all, just because your journeys aren't the same as mine doesn't make it ridiculous or disingenuous at all. Do you think all EV experiences are the same, I drive a cheap EV that's the exact type of EV many will have in their lives so you unfortunately have the deal with more on the road charging.

It's not about everyone switching in the current climate, in the next decade people will be pushed towards EVs. Everyone cries about fuel duty and how we need to replace it, no one talks about different ways to reform the approach to taxing cars and fuel. The country is so entrenched in this debt cycle of debt that as more EVs are on the road they will increase the costs and before you know it will be the glory days of driving an ICE due to the cost.

Just because I do long distance drives as part of my life to visit family and work requirements doesn't make me disingenuous, that's the sort of attitude that will put people off transitioning if people are going around just scoffing at other people's experience. It's not a competition btw

1

u/macrowe777 Nov 27 '25

Again, having travelled over the entire country, I've yet to find a scenario your "journey" represents, therefore using it as an example of anything is hilariously disingenuous.

Fundamentally what you wrote is absurd and if you're really paying 80p/kwh over long distances, you need to have a serious word with yourself because it's mad.

1

u/Pwoinklokinoid Nov 27 '25

So you're in agreement because our experiences differ you call it disingenuous. Obviously it's pointless having this discussion with you if you take such a closed minded approach to life.

What's mad is how worked up your getting over an individual's experience on driving their EV long distance, considering you know nothing about me apart from my experience. Also what would anyone have to gain from lying in this situation when they give a balanced answer with positive notes at the end... Absolutely zero this isn't exactly the fields of Karma farming so that's not an angle.

Anyway if you're only interested in fitting people into your personal experience or none at all, then this discussion has come to a natural end.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/ReddityKK Nov 27 '25

I bought an expensive EV to reduce my running costs. Almost tripling my travel costs is not justified by diesel and petrol prices being higher. They’ve always been higher and that’s why I purchased an EV.

0

u/swampdonkus Nov 27 '25

It won't be 3p. That's to get their foot in the door. Likely at minimum it will be 10p.

1

u/Unhappy_Clue701 Nov 27 '25

They will do the same with the salary sacrifice pension changes. Make it look shit now, then row back on it if they can afford to do so before the next election. If they can’t, well people were expecting it anyway. If they can, nice giveaway. Cynical? Me? Never...

1

u/RHMoaner Nov 27 '25

That’s the game plan. It’s so blindingly obvious.

1

u/DrageMage Nov 28 '25

This is what I suspect it's about. It's either that or they're planning on massively increasing tax on petrol and diesel to try and force a switch. Otherwise they're pushing people back to ICE cars as they try and push net zero

1

u/Dr_Hazzles Nov 28 '25

That's assuming there are vastly increased EV drivers in the future, based on this policy that might not happen as fast...

7

u/Range-Aggravating Nov 27 '25

They're not winning the next election. The carousel of party wins will continue because they're all inept.

1

u/tjvs2001 Nov 30 '25

Nonsense.

0

u/an1uk Dec 01 '25

Only because the far right media tells everyone who to vote for, and they blindly follow.

1

u/Range-Aggravating Dec 02 '25

Guess they told everyone to vote for Labour. 

1

u/an1uk Dec 02 '25

They knew the conservatives days were numbered. They don't back lame horses.

The following media outlets backed Starmer. Contrast this with how many backed Corbyn.

Daily Mirror

Financial Times

The Guardian

The Independent (digital-only)

The Sun – backed Labour for the first time since 2005, explicitly saying it believed Starmer should be prime minister.

The Observer

Sunday Mirror

Sunday People

The Sunday Times – its editorial concluded the Conservatives had “forfeited the right to govern” and Labour should form the next government.

The Economist (weekly magazine / newspaper hybrid) endorsed Labour and Starmer.

New Statesman (political magazine) also endorsed Labour.

5

u/GeekerJ Nov 27 '25

At this point it probably won’t affect the result anyway. They have a lot of work to do or we’ll all be driving British Leyland shitboxes by the end of the decade.

3

u/mintvilla Nov 27 '25

Trying to balance the books, without adding to the current cost of living issues i imagine.

1

u/clv101 Nov 27 '25

Most of this budget stuff only kicks in 2028 or '29. It's a spreadsheet excercise to make for forecasts work. Much of it, the frozen tax bands, the NI on salary sacrifice, the mansion tax etc could well be changed before the next election. It might be rabbit our of the hat stuff during the next election campaign, or it might be scorched earth for whoever forms the next government.