The DVLA has put out a reminder for drivers
Motorists considering making a key switch are being urged to check one vital figure first – £50,000.
The DVLA has issued a new reminder that electric vehicles with a list price of £50,000 or under are no longer subject to the controversial expensive car supplement, potentially saving drivers £2,200 in road tax across five years. The alert follows a sweeping shake-up of Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), which saw electric cars lose their longstanding road tax exemption in April 2025.
Following a wave of criticism from the automotive industry that numerous family EVs would be unfairly caught out by the previous £40,000 threshold, the Government raised the limit to £50,000 for zero-emission vehicles first registered from April 1 2025.
The DVLA said: “Buying an electric car? Electric cars priced £50,000 or under are no longer subject to the expensive car supplement if they were first registered from April 1 2025.”
Drivers stand to save £2,200
The expensive car supplement is applied for five years, beginning from the second year a vehicle is taxed.
For electric cars costing more than £50,000, the bill is now:
- First year: £10
- Years two to six: £640 a year, made up of the standard £200 VED plus a £440 expensive car supplement.
- Year seven onwards: The tax falls back to the standard annual rate of £200.
- That means buyers of EVs priced above the threshold will pay an extra £2,200 over the five-year period compared with owners of cars costing £50,000 or less.
Drivers should be aware that the threshold is calculated using the vehicle’s official list price when brand new, incorporating factory-fitted extras, rather than any dealer reductions they secure.
Popular electric vehicles that now avoid the surcharge
- Tesla Model 3.
- Tesla Model Y (most versions).
- Hyundai Ioniq 5.
- Kia EV6 (many models).
- Skoda Enyaq.
- Volkswagen ID. 4.
- Renault Scenic E-Tech.
Nevertheless, purchasers of luxury electric vehicles and higher-trim variants may still breach the limit. Depending on trim level, models such as the BMW i5, Audi Q6 e-tron, Mercedes-Benz EQE and certain performance variants of the Tesla Model Y continue to attract the supplement.
Shift follows criticism
The adjustment marks a partial retreat after ministers scrapped the road tax exemption for electric vehicles in April 2025. For years EV drivers paid no VED, but under the fresh regulations all electric vehicles now incur road tax.
Fresh EVs registered from April 1, 2025, pay £10 in the inaugural year before transitioning to the standard £200 yearly rate, while older electric vehicles registered between April 2017 and March 2025 now equally pay the £200 standard rate.
The move to increase the premium vehicle threshold to £50,000 came after car manufacturers warned that electric vehicles generally carry a higher price tag than their petrol and diesel counterparts, meaning a host of everyday family EVs risked being hit by the luxury tax despite being far from what most would consider high-end motors.
