DVLA ‘£50,000’ alert for UK drivers planning key change | Personal Finance | Finance
Drivers planning to make a major switch are being urged to check one crucial number beforehand – £50,000.
The DVLA has issued a reminder that electric cars with a list price of £50,000 or less are no longer liable for the controversial expensive car supplement, potentially saving motorists £2,200 in road tax over five years. The warning comes after a major overhaul of Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), which saw electric vehicles lose their long-standing exemption from road tax in April 2025.
However, following widespread criticism from the motor industry that many family EVs would be unfairly caught by the old £40,000 threshold, the Government increased the limit to £50,000 for zero-emission cars 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 could save £2,200
The expensive car supplement applies for five years, starting 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.
Motorists should note that the threshold is based on the vehicle’s official list price when new, including factory-fitted options, rather than any dealer discounts they negotiate.
Popular electric cars that now escape 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
However, buyers of premium electric cars and higher-specification models may still find themselves over the limit. Depending on specification, vehicles such as the BMW i5, Audi Q6 e-tron, Mercedes-Benz EQE and some performance versions of the Tesla Model Y remain liable for the supplement.
Change follows backlash
The move represents a partial climbdown after ministers ended the road tax exemption for electric vehicles in April 2025. For years EV owners paid no VED, but under the new rules all electric cars now pay road tax.
New EVs registered from April 1, 2025, pay £10 in the first year before moving to the standard £200 annual rate, while older electric cars registered between April 2017 and March 2025 now also pay the £200 standard rate.
The decision to raise the expensive car threshold to £50,000 followed warnings from manufacturers that battery-powered cars typically cost more than equivalent petrol and diesel models, meaning many ordinary family EVs would have been caught by the luxury tax despite not being considered luxury vehicles.
