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Charged for Charging: The EV Tax That Could Stall the Revolution

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Well, it had to happen sooner or later. The Government’s finally realised that as Britain’s roads fill with silent, battery-powered chariots, the Treasury’s piggy bank is sounding suspiciously empty. No petrol, no diesel, no fuel duty. And so, in a move that feels equal parts inevitable and ill-timed, ministers are sharpening their pencils and scribbling a new entry into your motoring expenses: a 3p-per-mile tax on electric vehicles.

Yes, you read that right. The same EVs we’ve been urged to buy to save the planet are now getting their own version of the fuel duty sting. Because apparently, saving the world doesn’t exempt you from paying for it.

According to The Telegraph, BBC, and Financial Times, this new “VED-plus” charge is pencilled in for 2028, pending a consultation. It’ll sit neatly beside the £195 annual Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) that EV owners will already be paying by then. Do the maths: if you cover 8,000 miles a year in your whisper-quiet hatchback, that’s about £435 a year in road charges. Congratulations — you’ve just electrified your fuel bill.

The Treasury reckons it could raise a tidy £1.8 billion a year by the early 2030s — which, funnily enough, is just about what’s missing from the government’s revenue as more drivers swap petrol pumps for plug sockets.

The Industry’s Response: “Are You Mad?”

Predictably, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) isn’t impressed. They’ve called the proposed move “entirely the wrong measure at the wrong time.” Their argument? It’ll scare off would-be EV buyers just when the UK needs them most to meet its zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate targets.

They’ve got a point. EV adoption is still fragile — 1.3 million electric cars on the road sounds impressive until you remember there are roughly 33 million cars in the UK. The market’s barely out of nappies, and now the government wants to tax the baby formula.

SMMT chief exec Mike Hawes (and the entire automotive industry, quietly) is basically shouting: “Don’t tax what you’re trying to sell.” Introducing a complex, costly new tax system before the EV transition has fully taken root risks sending buyers straight back to petrol forecourts — and investors straight to Germany or the US.

Enforcement: The Mileage Guessing Game

The plan, as reported, is for EV drivers to estimate their annual mileage when paying VED. If you drive more than you guessed, you pay extra. Drive less? You get credit next year.

So… honesty boxes for motorists, then. That’s going to end well.

No one seems to know how the government plans to verify mileage. Annual MOT readings? Mandatory tracking apps? A charming HMRC inspector checking your odometer over tea? The details are as fuzzy as a first-generation reversing camera.

The AA and Industry Voices: Proceed With Caution

Even the AA’s usually diplomatic president, Edmund King, has urged the government to “tread carefully.” Meanwhile, James Court from Octopus Electric Vehicles called the idea “self-defeating,” warning that “now would be far too soon.”

And they’re right — the EV market is growing, but it’s not yet robust enough to shrug off this kind of hit. Buyers are already wary of high upfront costs, patchy charging infrastructure, and residual value anxiety. Add a pay-per-mile tax on top and you’ve got a recipe for range anxiety of the fiscal variety.

Let’s be clear: road taxation does need reform. EVs shouldn’t be permanently tax-free; roads don’t repair themselves. But this feels like a knee-jerk policy dressed up as fairness. Instead of a smart, progressive system based on emissions, efficiency, or actual road wear, we’re getting a glorified electricity meter strapped to your number plate.

If the government really wants to plug its revenue gap without short-circuiting the EV revolution, it needs to work with the industry — not against it. Create a clear, fair, and future-proof system that doesn’t punish early adopters for doing the right thing.

Because right now, the message from Westminster seems to be: “Thanks for going green. That’ll be £435, please.”

Source: SMMT

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Porsche’s Kevin Giek on the Art of Charging the Taycan

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If you think filling up a gas tank is second nature, think again. Even the simple act of refueling has a learning curve — remember when “unleaded only” was a new concept, or when drivers argued over 95 versus 102 octane? Electric vehicles are no different. The difference now is that instead of octane ratings, we’re talking kilowatts, volts, and state of charge. And when it comes to charging know-how, few people know more than Kevin Giek, Vice President of the Taycan model line at Porsche.

According to Giek, charging an EV efficiently is a skill — and one that pays off. “To charge quickly, the battery should have as little remaining energy as possible. Ten percent is more or less ideal,” he says. In other words, just as enthusiasts love running an engine to the redline, Taycan owners should get comfortable dipping deep into their range before plugging in.

And when you do, the rewards are huge. At suitable 800-volt DC fast-charging stations, the latest Taycan can gulp down power at up to 320 kilowatts, a 50 kW bump over its predecessor. That slashes the charge time from 10 to 80 percent to a mere 18 minutes. For context, the first-generation Taycan took 37 minutes under similar conditions. Porsche’s updated Performance Battery Plus not only delivers higher output but maintains that peak power longer — over 300 kW for up to five minutes, even when the pack is cold.

That speed isn’t just bragging rights. It’s about making long-distance travel genuinely practical. But Giek insists that smart charging is as important as fast charging. “If I have a long trip ahead, I fully charge at home using a wallbox,” he explains. “On the road, I sometimes only charge to 60 percent. After that, it starts to feel almost too slow.”

He’s right. The Taycan’s charge curve is a marvel of engineering — it holds more than 300 kW up to roughly 70 percent, and stays north of 200 kW until around 75 percent. Beyond that, things taper off. “If the day’s destination can be reached comfortably with 60 percent, I stop there,” Giek says. “In the evening, I can top off again with AC power to conserve the battery.” The takeaway? Charging past 80 percent is rarely worth the wait.

Of course, Porsche being Porsche, there’s software intelligence behind the scenes. The brand’s Charging Planner algorithm calculates the optimal total travel time, not just the shortest charging session. Sometimes, that means stopping twice for quick top-ups rather than one long charge. The planner also preconditions the battery along the route for maximum efficiency — because in Porsche’s world, performance applies to electrons too.

But even the best system can’t fix one of the most common mistakes new EV owners make: sharing power. Giek points out that at many public charging parks, each cabinet splits its total output when two cars plug in. “When two cars charge at one point, only 75 kW per side is often available,” he says. “Many drivers don’t realize this.” That means your Taycan, capable of drawing more than 200 kW, might be sipping instead of gulping if you park next to someone else. The workaround? Find a charger with both sides free — or use an Ionity or Porsche Charging Lounge, which deliver full power to every stall.

At the end of the day, Giek’s advice boils down to what Porsche has always preached: performance through precision. Whether it’s how you attack a corner or how you top up your battery, mastery comes from understanding the machinery.

And make no mistake — in the Taycan, charging is just another form of performance. With its 800-volt architecture, near-perfect weight distribution, and Porsche’s obsessive calibration, this EV doesn’t just accelerate like a 911 Turbo — it redefines what fast feels like, even when parked.

Source: Porsche

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Free Volts for a Year: Volvo’s Giving Swedes a Charge on the House

Volvo has just lobbed a rather electrifying offer into the Swedish car market: buy one of their new fully electric models, and the company will cover your home charging bill for an entire year. That’s right — one year of fossil-free electricity, on the house. Or rather, from the house.

The initiative, a partnership between Volvo Cars and energy giant Vattenfall, kicks off in February 2026 and is aimed squarely at making the leap to electric life less of a financial jolt. The math isn’t trivial either — Volvo reckons that’s up to 25,000 km of free driving, enough to get you from Malmö to the Arctic Circle and back more times than anyone sane would attempt in a winter.

The setup is simple. Private buyers or lessees sign an electricity contract with Vattenfall, plug their car in at home, and let Volvo’s app handle the clever bits. Using smart charging, the system times your EV’s charging sessions for periods of lower grid demand — when the electricity is cheaper, cleaner, and less likely to upset Greta. The app will even keep track of your car’s energy consumption and deduct those costs automatically from your bill. Or, in this case, not deduct them, because Volvo’s picking up the tab.

Alejandro Castro Pérez, Volvo’s VP of Energy Solutions, summed it up nicely: “We’re listening to our customers. Free charging adds value, but it also moves us closer to a smarter, greener society.”

And that’s the subtext here — this isn’t just a PR stunt with a plug. It’s a pilot for something bigger. Volvo’s calling Sweden its test bed before expanding the idea across Europe and beyond. The brand wants its cars to be more than silent commuters; it wants them to become active players in the energy grid.

By 2026, Volvo plans to roll out vehicle-to-everything (V2X) capabilities, meaning cars like the new EX90 will be able to send electricity back to your house or even sell it to the grid. Imagine running your home office on yesterday’s commute or earning beer money because your car decided to moonlight as a miniature power plant.

This isn’t the first time Volvo and Vattenfall have teamed up to nudge the world toward a cleaner future. The two companies collaborated over a decade ago to produce the world’s first diesel plug-in hybrid, the V60 Plug-in Hybrid, back when most manufacturers were still arguing over whether hybrids were witchcraft.

Vattenfall’s Branislav Slavic calls Volvo’s new offer “a positive, sustainable step toward a fossil-free future.” And for once, corporate speak and common sense line up neatly. Free home charging? For a year? It’s hard to argue with that.

Volvo already has five fully electric models out in the wild, and with the upcoming EX60 due in January, the Swedes clearly aren’t easing off the current. This new initiative could make the brand’s Scandinavian serenity just a little more appealing — especially when it comes with a year of guilt-free, cost-free kilowatts.

Because if there’s one thing better than driving electric, it’s driving electric on someone else’s dime.

Source: Volvo