EV pay-as-you-drive charge could have “unforeseen effects”

The Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP) has said the introduction of a pay-as-you-drive charge for electric vehicles could cause “unforeseen effects”.

This includes delaying further fleet adoption of EVs for those fleets and drivers that are covering higher mileages.

The Government has recently talked of a £22 billion “black hole” in public finances.

Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) was worth £7.4bn to the UK in 2022/23 with fuel duty just over £25bn.

Paul Hollick, AFP said there has been no indication from Labour before or after the general election that suggests a surprise initiative will be sprung on fleet managers and drivers in the Autumn Budget on October 30.

However, there have been calls from Campaign for Better Transport (CfBT), as well as Michael Dnes, a senior official in the Department for Transport (DfT) for EVs to kick off a new road pricing initiative to help pave the way for falling fuel duty revenue in the coming years.

Hollick said: “Introducing pay-as-you-drive for EVs could see fleets and drivers that cover higher miles finding it cheaper to stick to largely fixed cost petrol and diesel vehicles and the taxation system that comes with it.”