If you’ve just received a brown envelope from the DVLA demanding money for your electric car, you’re not imagining things. The first wave of Vehicle Excise Duty (VED, commonly called road tax) bills for EVs registered between April 2017 and March 2025 started arriving in early 2026, and many owners are opening them with a mixture of confusion and mild betrayal.
After years of paying nothing, EVs now fall under the same VED rules as petrol and diesel cars. Here’s what those letters actually mean, what you’ll owe, and how to sort it without getting a fine.
What the Letters Look Like
The DVLA letters are titled “Vehicle Tax Reminder” or “Vehicle Tax Due”, depending on whether this is your first reminder or you’ve already missed a payment. They’ll show your vehicle registration, the amount due, and a reference number you’ll need for payment.
Importantly, these aren’t separate “EV tax” bills. You’re now in the same VED system as every other car owner, which means you’ll either pay when you renew (if your existing tax is about to expire) or you’ll get a bill for the new rates if you’re mid-period on a zero-rate exemption.
What You Actually Owe
The amount depends entirely on when your car was registered and what it cost when new.
For EVs registered from April 2025 onwards, you’ll have paid the “first year rate” of £10 when the car was registered (usually handled by the dealer). From the second year onwards, you pay the standard rate, which is £195 per year at the time of writing, or about £16.25 per month.
For EVs registered between April 2017 and March 2025, which were previously exempt, you’re now being brought into the standard rate of £195 per year from April 2025 onwards.
Here’s where it gets expensive: if your EV had a list price over £40,000 when new, you also pay the “expensive car supplement” of an additional £425 per year (based on current rates) for five years, starting from the second time the vehicle is taxed. That means a total bill of £620 per year, or roughly £52 per month, until you’ve had the car for six years.
This catches out owners of popular models like the Tesla Model Y Long Range (list price around £52,000), Polestar 2 Long Range (roughly £49,000), and even some higher-spec Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5 variants. If you’re not sure whether your car qualifies, check the V5C logbook, which shows the original list price including VAT and any factory-fitted options.
How to Pay
You can pay online at gov.uk/vehicle-tax, by phone on 0300 123 4321, or at most Post Office branches. You’ll need your vehicle registration number and the reference number from the letter.
You can pay annually, every six months (which costs about 5% more overall), or set up a monthly Direct Debit (which works out the same as the annual rate but spreads the cost). The Direct Debit option is genuinely the easiest, particularly if you’ve never had to remember to renew road tax before.
Payment is due from the date shown on the letter. If you miss it, you could get a £80 fine, reduced to £40 if you pay within 28 days. Drive without valid tax and you risk a £1,000 fine.
If You Bought Your EV for the Tax Exemption
This is the painful bit. If you bought your EV specifically because running costs were low, and road tax exemption was part of that calculation, there’s no rebate or compensation scheme. The government announced these changes back in the 2022 Autumn Statement, giving notice that the exemption would end, but that doesn’t make the first bill any less annoying.
The only slight relief is that EVs still avoid fuel duty (worth roughly £900 per year compared to a similar petrol car doing 10,000 miles) and benefit from significantly lower company car tax if you’re running one through work. But the days of completely tax-free motoring are over.
What If You’ve Sold the Car?
If you’ve sold or scrapped your EV, make sure you’ve notified the DVLA. If they’ve sent the tax reminder to you, but the car’s now in someone else’s name, you’re not liable. However, if the new owner hasn’t registered the vehicle in their name, the DVLA won’t know, and you’ll keep getting reminders. Check your online DVLA account or call them to confirm the sale has gone through properly.
If you’ve just bought a used EV, the tax doesn’t transfer with the car. You’ll need to tax it in your name immediately, even if the previous owner had months of tax remaining. They’ll automatically get a refund for any full months left.
Don’t Ignore the Letters
The DVLA system flags untaxed vehicles automatically, and you’ll receive escalating reminders and then a fine. If you’re genuinely unable to pay the full amount upfront, set up the monthly Direct Debit immediately. It costs the same overall as paying annually, but means your first payment is just one month’s worth (around £16 for a standard EV, or about £52 if you’re paying the expensive car supplement), and you won’t get penalised for late payment as long as the Direct Debit is active.