Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how will the recently announced pay per mile charge for EV drivers affect those Northern Ireland based drivers whose work and residence near the border means much of their annual travel is done in the Irish Republic.

As announced at Budget 2025, the Government is introducing Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) from April 2028, a new mileage charge for electric and plug-in hybrid cars, recognising that EVs (electric vehicles) contribute to congestion and wear and tear on the roads but pay no equivalent to fuel duty. As with VED, eVED will apply to UK-registered vehicles; non-UK registered vehicles will be required to register for eVED after a period of six months in the UK.

The Government has ruled out charging tax based on when or where people drive to protect motorists’ privacy. This means non-UK mileage driven by UK registered cars will fall into scope of eVED, as with fuel duty, which does not vary by basis of where a car is driven.

The vast majority of eVED will be paid on travel in the UK; there were an estimated 225 billion car miles in Great Britain in 2024, and over 9 billion miles travelled by car in Northern Ireland in 2023.

The government has published a consultation on GOV.UK, which provides further detail on how eVED is intended to work and seeks views on its implementation, and can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69282ac1a245b0985f034197/eVED_Consultation.pdf