Answers · UK 2025/26
What is the first-year Vehicle Excise Duty rate for electric cars in 2026/27?
Electric cars registered from April 2026 pay just £10 in first-year Vehicle Excise Duty (road tax), rising to the £200 standard rate from the second year onward -- previously EVs paid no VED at all, so this is a much smaller first-year charge than petrol, diesel or hybrid cars typically pay.
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Vehicle Excise Duty (VED, commonly called road tax) for electric vehicles changed significantly from April 2025, when the long-standing exemption for zero-emission cars was removed as part of efforts to equalise road tax treatment between electric and petrol or diesel vehicles as EV adoption has grown. For 2026/27, a new electric car registered from April 2025 onward pays a first-year rate of just £10 -- a nominal, largely symbolic charge compared with the potentially much higher first-year rates that apply to higher-emission petrol and diesel cars, which are banded by CO2 emissions and can run into thousands of pounds for the most polluting new vehicles in their first year. From the second year of registration onward, electric cars move onto the standard annual rate of £200, the same flat standard rate that now applies to almost all cars regardless of fuel type from their second year, having replaced the previous system where EVs paid nothing indefinitely. Electric cars with a list price above £40,000 when new are also subject to the premium car supplement -- an extra £440 a year, on top of the standard £200 rate, payable for five years starting from the second year of registration -- following a change from April 2025 that extended this supplement (previously petrol-and-diesel-only) to expensive electric vehicles too, though the price threshold that triggers this supplement is set slightly higher for zero-emission cars than for other fuel types, recognising that EVs often have a higher list price than equivalent combustion models. Cars registered before April 2017 follow an entirely different, older VED system based on CO2 emissions bands rather than the current first-year-plus-standard-rate structure, so this £10 first-year rate only applies to newly registered vehicles, not to an EV bought used that was first registered years earlier. Use the road tax calculator to check the exact VED due on your vehicle.
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This answer is informational only and does not constitute financial, tax or legal advice. Figures are for the 2025/26 UK tax year. See our methodology and sources.