What is trending on X: UK electric vehicle excise duty, 3p a mile from April 2028

Electric vehicle excise duty is trending on X. The page opened on 27 October 2026, which is the date recorded for it, is titled Treasury Ad Reveals eVED as Long-Term Fuel Duty Replacement. Posts there discuss a Treasury job advert. Civil Service Jobs did not open, so the advert is not verified here. The rates below are from GOV.UK.

One post on the trending page, from the account @EnglandUK, says electric cars are getting a pay-per-mile tax, that a Treasury job advert says the tax is meant to replace fuel duty in the long term, and that petrol and diesel drivers are next. The last clause is the post's argument. It is not a sentence on the GOV.UK pages cited here.

What GOV.UK says the charge is

The HM Revenue & Customs policy paper, on a publication the GOV.UK hub dates to 13 July 2026, says eVED extends vehicle excise duty. From 1 April 2028 it applies to cars that are battery-electric, plug-in hybrid, or hydrogen fuel-cell. The rates are 3 pence per mile for battery-electric and hydrogen cars, and 1.5 pence per mile for plug-in hybrids, uprated with consumer price inflation from 2029 to 2030 and in later years.

Drivers give an odometer reading and a mileage estimate, usually for a year, when they renew. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency administers the charge. Payment can be upfront or spread through the year, then reconciled to a year-end reading. A car that already has an MOT will typically need no extra check. Motorists pay at the first renewal after April 2028. The paper says primary legislation will amend the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994.

The paper says petrol and diesel drivers pay fuel duty, electric-car drivers do not currently pay an equivalent, and the Office for Budget Responsibility has forecast that fuel duty receipts will decline. It says eVED is intended to help replace lost fuel duty revenue from cars over the long term. It does not say petrol and diesel drivers will be moved onto the charge.

The consultation response, updated on 13 July 2026, calls the 3 pence electric-car rate half the equivalent rate of fuel duty, and the plug-in hybrid rate 1.5 pence. It says vans, buses, coaches, and heavy goods vehicles are out of scope at the start. It describes eVED as a mileage charge designed to replace fuel duty revenue lost as petrol and diesel vehicles are phased out.

What the posts add

The trending title presents a Treasury advert as revealing eVED to be a long-term fuel-duty replacement. The @EnglandUK post says the advert says that, and then says petrol and diesel drivers are next. GOV.UK already describes the car charge as a replacement for lost fuel duty revenue. The advert text itself is what this desk could not verify, because Civil Service Jobs did not open.

The rates here are the GOV.UK figures. The zero-emission vehicle mandate review is a separate sales-target consultation.