Driving On UK Roads In The Near Future

Owners of all vehicles have to pay compulsory costs to keep their vehicles running safely and legally, that every driver has to pay to keep a Vehicle on the road.

These are Vehicle Insurance, the M.O.T Test and Road Tax every 12 months. Their are also other costs an Annual Service usually just before the M.O.T most vehicles are usually done at an independent garage, though some Drivers do their own Service Checks Lights, Changing Oil, Screen Wash, Wipers etc.

In addition to any Vehicle Repairs that are needed to keep the vehicle running as they need to be done so the vehicle will pass the annual m.o.t.

In addition to these expenses Drivers of Non-Compliant Vehicles now have to pay a Ulez Charge when they drive into a Clean Air Zone and the Congestion Charge (In London).

The Government is currently considering various types of charges to replace the revenue it will lose in Vehicle Tax (VED) when the Ban comes into force in 2035.

Vehicle Tax - Lost revenue from road tax is an easy problem to solve

FACT: Drivers on UK roads have to pay vehicle excise duty (VED) also known as (Road Tax), which is dependent on the emissions their vehicle emits whilst being driven on UK roads. **See tables below for VED Banding and Annual Vehicle Tax for Car’s.

Electric cars are currently exempt from vehicle tax (Road Tax) at the time of writing this blog, but from April 2025 all EV’s first registered from April 2017 will have to pay the CO2-based first-year rate at the lowest rate then they will be subject to the flat annual rate. EVs will also be subject to the £355.00 ‘expensive car supplement’, but this will only apply to new EV’s first registered from April 2025 – it won’t apply retrospectively like the standard rate.

As more people buy electric vehicles, road charging could be introduced first to electric vehicles, then a full rollout to include petrol and diesel vehicles.

Lost Fuel Duty - a harder issue to solve

Replacing fuel duty is a far trickier problem to solve, and not just because the revenue it brings is higher.

At present, for every litre of petrol or diesel you put in your car the taxman takes 52.95 pence, plus a 20% slice of VAT. This is effectively pay-as-you-go taxation, as the more you drive, the more petrol or diesel a driver buys when they fill their fuel tanks the more tax you pay.

For example if a driver fills his tank with 13.25 litres at a cost of £1.509 a litre it would cost £20.00 out of that the taxman receives £7.01+£3.33 (20% vat) every litre of fuel you buy which leaves the Garage with £9.66

Fuel Duty will continue for petrol and diesel drivers as vehicles that emit higher levels of emmissions E.g those that are non compliant according to Ulez Drivers will replace them with electric vehicles or Drivers will buy Petrol and Diesel Vehicles that are compliant with emmission standards

Which cars are free from ULEZ charges?

Check your vehicle using the link below Find out if your vehicle meets the emissions and safety standards required to drive in London, or if you need to pay a daily charge. https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/check-your-vehicle/

This tool only checks the emissions standard of a vehicle.

This tool checks for:

Different rules apply to different types of vehicles when it comes to ULEZ fees. For the most part, this means:

ULEZ-compliant petrol cars

• Must meet Euro 4, 06 Euro 5 or Euro 6 emissions standards

• Were generally registered after January 20

ULEZ-compliant diesel cars

• Must be Euro 6 compliant

• Were generally registered after September 2015

ULEZ-compliant hybrid & electric cars

• Diesel engines: Must meet Euro 6 standards

• With petrol engines: Must meet Euro 4 standards

ULEZ-compliant vans & motorbikes

• Diesel vans must be Euro compliant

• Petrol vans must be Euro 4 compliant

• Motorbikes must be Euro 3 compliant

If a nationwide route-based charging system were introduced, this would most likely be based around automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, as these are cost-effective and have been widely deployed since the 1990s.

Disadvantages

ANPR cameras would need to be installed at regular intervals on every road and junction, from the busiest motorway interchange to the smallest rural T-junction. Such a project would undoubtedly be both expensive and unsightly, as landscapes become peppered with cameras on poles, bridleways and similar paths may be used to avoid charges would also need to be mitigated against.

Leaving these issues aside, the TSC considers it may be “impossible to deliver a national road pricing scheme” due to the numerous devolved tolls and charging zones that already exist in the country, that could be ended and

this would probably be more agreeable to Vehicle Owners if it applied equally to all Local Roads and Motorways, with the cost per mile been the same for all roads.

Pay Per Mile National Road Pricing:

Pay Per Mile instead of paying vehicle tax every 6 or 12 months would be better than the fragmented system we have at the moment.

All Car Owners pay Vehicle Tax every year and we still have roads that are not being maintained properly.

As Vehicle Owners contribute by paying Vehicle tax according to the Vehicle they own and the emissions they emit, they should not have to pay extra expenses driving over badly maintained roads.

With Potholes becoming an increasing problem, drivers have to pay for the damage done to their vehicles caused by driving over potholes in addition to all the other Motoring expenses, they have to pay.

Fact: Vehicle Tax is currently added to the central funds of the exchequer (Which is the Total Budget the Government gets every Year which pays for Road Maintenance, Education, Health, Police, Local Council Budgets etc

Vehicle tax that is added to Central Funds should be accounted for and proper records kept on how the funds are used for Road Maintenance.

Records should also be available to the Public of how the money is been used for the maintenance of UK roads. (Locally and Motorways).

Any money collected from Vehicle Tax should be put into a separate fund for the sole use of the upkeep of roads in the UK.

If Pay Per Mile is implemented in place of Vehicle Tax, the money collected should be added to the fund.

FACT: Drivers of vehicles on UK roads have to pay vehicle excise duty (VED) also known as (Road Tax), which is dependent on the emissions their vehicle emits whilst being driven on UK roads.

As Vehicle Tax is calculated based on emissions levels those with higher emmision levels will pay more each year.

This is because they contribute more to pollution and environmental impact.

they will then be paying for the usage of the roads they drive on as they drive and would be contributing to the upkeep of the roads.

To find out how much tax you need to pay for your vehicle in 2023-2024, you’ll need to know when your car was first registered and what fuel type is your car:

What is Vehicle Tax?

Every year, the vehicle excise duty (VED), commonly known as road tax, increases with inflation. The amount of tax you pay is based on how much CO2 your vehicle emits and when it was produced. Generally, the more CO2 your car emits, the more you pay.

In April 2020, the emissions testing standards were changed to a new system called WLTP, which stands for Worldwide Harmonised Vehicle Test Procedure. Simply put, this test is more stringent and designed to better reflect real-world fuel economy and emissions. Those test results are used to determine how much tax you'll pay on your vehicle.

**See tables below for VED Banding and Annual Vehicle Tax for Car’s.

So Drivers already pay Vehicle Tax which is dependent on the emissions of their vehicle The higher the level of CO2 Emissions (g/km) the more Vehicle Tax is paid and Emission levels are checked every time a vehicle goes through an m.o.t and recorded on your m.o.t every year they also note down your yearly mileage.

Pay Per Mile would mean that drivers would in effect only be paying for the usage of the roads as they drive.

They would be paying as they drive if Vehicle Tax was replaced by Pay Per Mile and would be contributing to the upkeep of the roads. Owners of vehicles driven on the roads who drive more would obviously pay more, as they are driving more miles.

New per-mile charging system could completely replace fuel duty and vehicle excise duty for all vehicles,

Drivers of Vehicles that don’t contribute to the pollution problem Electric Vehicles, Compliant Petrol Vehicles registered before 2006 and Diesel vehicles registered after 20?? should not be charged more than they are paying for vehicle tax. (At the time of writing this blog).

Fact:Annual VED road tax rate The current annual flat rate of road tax for the 2023/2024 tax year is £180 (up from £165 in the 2022/2023 financial year). There's a £10 annual discount for alternatively fuelled vehicles (hybrids, mild hybrids and plug-in hybrids), so they pay £170 a year.

Vehicles that are not compliant with their vehicle emission levels should contribute more per mile this would be better than charging a Ulez charge every day for vehicles that don't comply with emission levels, which should be calculated on their CO2 levels as in the VED rates 2023-24. They would not have to pay a charge to go in a clean air zone with the ensuing fine if they forgot to payand not having to pay a Ulez charge for their vehicle if it is non-compliant would be fairer and they would be paying as they drive if they were paying by mile and the Government Vehicle Fund would be able to use the money from Pay Per Mile for the purpose it is meant to be used for to keep the roads, Car Parks, etc properly repaired and fit for use..

Vehicles that are non-compliant have to pay the Ulez charge in a clean air zone. (As of the time of writing this Blog). Or they could apply for a Loan (Interest Free) if this was set up to help Drivers to make their Vehicles compliant with emission levels.

ULEZ should be scrapped - as all vehicles have their emissions checked when they have their annual M.O.T and they can also be spot-checked at the side of the road. ULEZ...

Pay per mile if it replaces vehicle excise duty (VED) also known as (Road Tax) and Fuel Duty would be better than Ulez which is paid per day and if someone went to work on a night shift before midnight on one day then went home the next day they would be charged 2 Ulez charges for their vehicle for example A non-compliant vehicle driver would Pay 2* £12.50=£25.00

Example:

A Vehicle is driven 200 miles in a week (to work and personal journeys (that equals 10,400 miles a year) the government gets Fuel tax + v.a.t on £60.00 Fuel bought, every week (that equals £1,144.00 and the £180.00 Vehicle Tax (current annual flat rate of road tax for the 2023/2024 tax year), if a compliant vehicle paid approx 7p a mile that would cover the loss of Vehicle Tax & Fuel Duty Tax +v.a.t.

Fund To Help Drivers To Make Their Vehicles Compliant

Also if an Air Quality Fund was set up that non-compliant drivers could apply for an interest-free loan to be re-paid over a set period.

So they could improve the cars they currently drive to make their vehicles compliant with emission levels. This would help to improve air quality They would have to pay the loan off, but they would save in the future as this would also mean one less expense (Ulez Charge) they would also pay less Vehicle Tax each year. This would be of benefit for drivers who do not have the resources to buy an expensive Electric car and the ensuing expenses of e.g replacement of batteries etc and making their current petrol/diesel vehicle compliant they would be able to drive the vehicle till the vehicle was no longer viable to drive or they could afford to buy an Electric Car or a Compliant Vehicle. Which was registered in 2006 (Petrol), or Diesel in ??

The Benefits Of Pay Per Mile

This would also be of benefit to those who don’t use their vehicles every day for example home workers, retired persons etc. Also, drivers who need their vehicles to get to work would be paying per mile.

• If Pay per mile replaces the vehicle tax they would only be paying per mile as they drive.

• If the vehicle tax & Fuel Tax were replaced by pay per mile this would encourage Car Owners to plan their journeys. For example, Drivers would be encouraged to only use their car for necessary journeys if the journey is not within walking distance, or if they need to transport large or heavy items. This would reduce emissions of all drivers.

• Paying per mile would also help those who can’t get around easily. This would mean that car drivers who need a car to get around. To go to medical appointments, do their shopping or to see friends and family, this would also have the added benefit of those who can't get around easily being able to be more independent, it would also be better for their mental health as not everyone is mobile enough to go on buses, trains etc or walk long distances.

• For those drivers who don't use a car every day but need it for the reasons stated above they would only pay for the journeys they do by paying per mile and would not be paying a tax every year on a vehicle that is not been used every day. This would be helpful for Drivers of vehicles who are struggling due to the current cost of living crisis.

They would in effect be paying for the usage of the roads they drive on as they drive and would be contributing to the upkeep of the roads.

Driving is a fundamental part of life for millions of people up and down the country.

The Treasury has grown used to motorists being a cash cow, for countless years but with electric vehicles on the rise, those days are numbered.

We should have an affordable, fair system, its still important that all drivers pay a fair amount for the roads they use and take into account the financial impact on drivers and ensure that drivers aren’t paying more through taxation than is invested back in the road network as is happening at the moment, as in the Pothole Fiasco. Where the money paid by Vehicle Owners in Vehicle tax is not been given to the Councils to repair the roads we are all driving on.

NOTE: ANPR Cameras could be used to track where, when and how a vehicle is driven.

Registered Owners of Vehicles could be linked to a Pay Per Mile Account which they could check the Information of Journeys/Mileage driven by date* could be set up to pay weekly or monthly on set day/date of each month.

*safeguards could be put in place if for example: vehicle is stolen and miles driven

While everyone would receive a set allocation of tax-free miles every year, the allocation would be higher for those living in remote areas with fewer transport alternatives.

Eventually, as the share of ZEVs on the roads grew, this exchanging an “outdated and onerous” tax system with something “future-proof” and fairer towards drivers.

All Drivers of every type of vehicle should be treated equally.

*Fact:

• The Transport Select Committee has recommended that: “Any alternative road pricing mechanism must be revenue neutral to the Government rather than causing drivers, as a whole, to pay more than they do currently.

• Such a mechanism should be phased in before fuel duty and vehicle excise duty decline to zero.

• The Government should keep the transition affordable for all consumers.

To check if your vehicle will be charged in clean air zones in England, go to gov.uk/check-clean-air-zone-charge. You will need your vehicle’s registration number.

Eventually, as the share of ZEVs on the roads grows, this new per mile charging system could completely replace fuel duty and vehicle excise duty for all vehicles. Each vehicle would be assigned a per mile rate, based on its weight to reflect wear on the roads, and charges would be collected monthly by direct debit.

All we can do is sit, wait, and hope that whatever plans come about are workable, palatable, affordable, fair and secure.

Petrol And Diesel? vehicles will probably still be on the Road until 2050 and beyond as Petrol And Diesel will most likely be replaced with an alternative fuel that doesn’t cause emissions and affect the World’s Climate in a negative way.

How It Will Affect Driving In The Future

*Fact: In 2020 the government announced plans to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030. In 2023, however, it announced changes to those plans, pushing the ban back to 2035.

In 2020, the UK government announced that it intended to ban the sale of new cars powered solely by engines that use petrol or diesel fuel in 2030. New plug-in hybrid cars that could travel a ‘significant distance’ on electric power alone would be allowed to remain on sale until 2035 under the proposal. However, in September 2023 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pushed the ban on petrol and diesel cars back to 2035, meaning that there would be a single deadline and only new pure-electric cars could be sold after that date. That brings it into line with the planned deadline in the EU and many other foreign markets.

Why is the ban necessary? According to most scientists, climate change is the biggest threat in the 21st Century. One of the biggest causes of climate change is carbon dioxide.

Petrol and diesel cars emit a lot of carbon dioxide, so banning their sale is a crucial element in the fight against climate change. Since 2019, the UK has had a legal obligation to achieve a net zero level of carbon emissions by 2050. The 2023 changes to the planned 2030 deadline were met with concern by environmental groups, but Rishi Sunak said he still plans to hit the 2050 net zero target.

Petrol and diesel cars will be replaced by zero-emission vehicles that emit no carbon dioxide and other pollutants while being driven. Most people will switch to a battery-powered electric vehicle (EV).

Most car manufacturers plan to have fully electric line-ups by 2030 anyway, as they have long been working towards the previous deadline.

Some plan to be electric-only as soon as 2025, so the choice of new petrol or diesel cars in 2030 is unlikely to change dramatically as a result of the delay.

Electric cars powered by other technologies, like hydrogen fuel cells, could also be available. Indeed, Toyota and Hyundai already have fuel-cell vehicles (FCVs) on the market. So anyone who wants to change to Electric Vehicles will be able to, but the sale of new petrol and diesel cars could, in theory, remain on sale until the day before the ban comes into force. But in practice, it’s likely that very few will still be available at that point as most carmakers will have already switched their entire range to EVs.

Many industry experts are predicting there’ll be very high demand for new petrol and diesel cars in the final few years before the ban comes into force, from people who don’t want an electric car. As not everyone wants to drive an Electric Vehicle partly due to the Cost of Buying one and the cost of batteries to run an Electric Vehicle. Also due to the current problem of some Electric Vehicles catching fire.

Existing petrol and diesel cars will not be banned from the roads in 2035 and there are no proposals to do so in the next few decades, or even this century.

It’s possible that owning a petrol or diesel car will become more expensive if fuel prices rise and vehicle taxation increases. as the government will want to do something to make up for the loss of revenue from carbon dioxide-based road tax charges and fuel duty as more people switch to electric cars. Charging drivers for road usage Pay Per Mile is being floated as the most likely option, but there are no firm proposals on the table as yet.

After 2035 the ban only applies to the sale of new petrol and diesel cars. You’ll still be able to buy, sell and drive existing ‘used’ petrol and diesel cars after 2035.

Also, with no proposals in the pipeline that would ban petrol or diesel cars from the roads, there also are no plans to ban the sale of petrol or diesel fuel but they could be replaced by carbon-neutral synthetic fuels.

Also known as ‘e-fuels’, these can be used in any combustion engine. A lot of investment is being made into developing the technology, so some form of e-fuel probably will be available at fuel stations in the relatively near future.

How easy will it be by 2035 to charge an EV? One of the challenges EV owners face right now is dealing with the UK’s charging infrastructure. Some areas of the country have few public chargers available and, country-wide, some chargers vary in reliability and speed.

Large amounts of public and private funds are being committed to providing chargers at motorway services, in car parks and in residential areas. Some oil companies have jumped on board and are planning networks of charging locations that look like, and provide the same facilities as, fuel stations. The National Grid says it’ll be able to meet the increased demand for electricity, as well.

• The Transport Select Committee has recommended that: “Any alternative road pricing mechanism must be revenue neutral to the Government rather than causing drivers, as a whole, to pay more than they do currently.

• Such a mechanism should be phased in before fuel duty and vehicle excise duty decline to zero.

With the ban on new petrol and diesel cars quickly approaching, more and more of us are purchasing hybrid and electric vehicles

28% of new cars in 2021 were electrified

As mentioned before, they pay zero road tax at this moment in time.

They also don’t pay any fuel duty; petrol and diesel are taxed at 20%, compared to 5% on electricity.

When the ban on new petrol and diesel vehicles is implemented, there will be less fuel duty being paid on petrol and diesel vehicles at the pumps.

FACT FILE:

On a national level, the Department of Transport is allotted its own budget that pays for things like the upkeep of the motorway system and the laying of new roads. It funds research into new initiatives to increase road safety and congestion, like Smart Motorways and continued improvements to driving safety regulations.

It’s the local level where the money gets spent on road surface repairs on country and urban roads. Similarly, it also contributes to the building of new roads, but also larger urban projects that benefit drivers, like car parks and restructuring city roads. Of course, not every road user will agree on how a council should spend its limited budget!

The budget is going to lose two massive sources of revenue by the end of the decade, so what’s the long-term plan when it comes to taxation?

FACT: Tax on Petrol and Diesel and Car Tax

From 1 April 2025, Drivers Of Electric Vehicles

Will pay for road tax for the first time in the UK.

The New 2025 Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) rules will have a significant impact on thousands of EV owners and their annual motoring costs.

Road tax, also known as VED or car tax, is an annual payment imposed on motor vehicles that are used or parked on public roads in the UK.

It is a form of taxation used by governments to generate revenue and contribute to the costs associated with maintaining and improving road infrastructure.

How much does the UK government make from fuel duty?

In 2022/23 fuel duty tax receipts in the United Kingdom amounted to approximately 25.1 billion British pounds, compared with 25.9 billion pounds in the previous financial year.

How much does the UK government make from car tax?

Background: The UK government receives tax revenue from drivers of petrol and diesel cars via two key methods: fuel duty, which brings £28 billion a year into government coffers, and Vehicle Excise Duty (road tax), which nets roughly £7 billion.1 Jul 2022

The TSC isn’t the only group to think this. The Climate Change Committee (CCC), which advises the government on emissions, recently said: “It will be necessary to introduce some form of road pricing, whereby drivers (of any vehicle type) are charged for how much (and possibly when/where) they drive”.

But precisely how will this be achieved, and what new schemes will be introduced to replace the £35 billion that drivers of petrol and diesel cars contribute to the tax chest every year?

**New VED rates 2023-24

During the Spring Budget 2023, the Chancellor announced that Vehicle Excise Duty will be increasing from 1 April 2023 onwards. VED has been increasing since 2010 in line with inflation. As well as new VED bands, the government introduced new first year rates, which are calculated on the CO2 emission levels. Most family car buyers pay between £120 - £170 for the first year rate, while the most polluting cars (255g/km+ of CO2) pay as much as £2365.

To find out how much tax you need to pay for your vehicle in 2023-2024, you’ll need to know when your car was first registered and what fuel type is your car:

Tax bands for cars registered on or after 1 April 2017

If this is the first time you’re paying tax on your car, the first-year VED rates will be as follows:

• Band A: Cars that produce 0g/km of CO2 will pay £0 in VED (you’ll still need to register the vehicle as taxed)

• Band B: Cars that produce 1-50g/km of CO2 pay £10

• Band C: Cars that produce 51-75g/km of CO2 pay £30

• Band D: Cars that produce 76-90g/km of CO2 pay £130

• Band E: Cars that produce 91-100g/km of CO2 pay £165

• Band F: Cars that produce 101-110g/km of CO2 pay £185

• Band G: Cars that produce 111-130g/km of CO2 pay £210

• Band H: Cars that produce 131-150g/km of CO2 pay £255

• Band I: Cars that produce 151-170g/km of CO2 pay £645

• Band J: Cars that produce 171-190g/km of CO2 pay £1,040

• Band K: Cars that produce 191-225g/km of CO2 pay £1,565

• Band L: Cars that produce 226-255g/km of CO2 pay £2,220

• Band M: Cars that produce anything above 255g/km of CO2 pay £2,605 as the first-year rate

Bear in mind, if you drive a diesel car that doesn’t meet the Real Driving Emissions 2 (RDE2) standards, you will have to pay higher first-year VED which means your tax bracket will fall in one higher Band rate than it would’ve with a RDE2 compliant diesel car.

Fully electric cars fall under VED Band A: cars that produce 0g/km of CO2; so, the first-year tax rate will be £0 till 2025.

Tax bands for cars registered between 1 March 2001and 31 March 2017

Cars registered between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017 are banded according to their CO2 emissions. VED rates for cars registered between 1 March 2001 to 31 March 2017 are as follows:

• Band A: Cars that produce 0-100 g/km of CO2 will pay £0 in VED (you’ll still need to register the vehicle as taxed)

• Band B: Cars that produce 101-110 g/km of CO2 now have a first-year rate of £20

• Band C: Cars that produce 111-120 g/km now have a first-year rate of £35

• Band D: Cars that produce 121-130 g/km now have a first-year rate of £150

• Band E: Cars that produce 131-140 g/km now have a first-year rate of £180

• Band F: Cars that produce 141-150 g/km now have a first-year rate of £200

• Band G: Cars that produce 151-165 g/km now have a first-year rate of £240

• Band H: Cars that produce 166-175 g/km now have a first-year rate of £290

• Band I: Cars that produce 176-185 g/km now have a first-year rate of £320

• Band J: Cars that produce 186-200 g/km now have a first-year rate of £365

• Band K: Cars that produce 201-225 g/km now have a first-year rate of £395

• Band L: Cars that produce 226-255g/km now have a first-year rate of £675

• Band M: Cars that produce anything above 255g/km now have a first-year rate of £695

How do I find out the tax band for my car?

You will need the year of your car’s registration to find out the tax band. To do this, refer to your vehicle’s V5C logbook and look up the date of first registration of the car, found on page one of the logbook. Once you know the year the car was first registered, you will be able to find the vehicle’s specific tax band and yearly cost.

Blog On Ulez: Clean Air~Reduce Emissions Nature's Way And The ULEZ Expansion And How It Will Affect Your Lifestyle

Sources of Information:

*Fact:

The Centre For Policy Studies https://cps.org.uk/

*Fact:

UK Parliament https://committees.parliament.uk › documents

Linda Aitken-Smith 14.11.2023

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