The Chancellor’s Autumn Budget has delivered the biggest shake-up to fleet running costs in a decade. Here’s the breakdown of every change that matters to fleet managers.
Pay-Per-Mile Tax on EVs from April 2028
From 1 April 2028, every battery-electric car and van on the road will pay 3p per mile, while plug-in hybrids will pay 1.5p per mile. Electric HGVs, motorcycles and quadricycles are exempt. That works out at around £270 extra a year for the average driver doing 9,000 miles, but for a high-mileage service engineer or field sales rep doing 25,000 miles, it’s another £750 on the annual bill.
Fuel Duty Frozen Until September 2026
Fuel duty stays exactly where it is until September 2026. The 5p cut introduced in 2022 remains in place, and there is no inflation-linked rise next April. After September 2026, the Chancellor will start “staggered increases”, and pump prices are going up again, just not yet.
Expensive-Car VED Threshold Rises to £50,000 for Zero-Emission Vehicles
From April 2026, the £474 “luxury car” supplement only applies above £50,000 for EVs (up from £40,000). That means a Tesla Model Y Long Range, BMW i4, Kia EV6 or any other popular £45k–£50k fleet choice avoids the surcharge for the first five years a saving of £2,370 over the vehicle’s life.
Electric Car Grant Revived with £1.5 Billion Package
The plug-in car grant is officially back. The Treasury has committed a £1.5 billion package running through to 2029/30 to help more drivers and fleets make the switch to electric.
£100 Million for Public Charging & Cross-Pavement Cable Rights
Public charging gets a £100 million boost and, at long last, new permitted development rights mean drivers will be able to run a cable across the pavement to their car without needing planning permission from the council.
End of Combustion Engine Sales Delayed to 2030
The 100% ZEV mandate for new cars and vans is now fully enforced from April 2030 with a one-year transition period running to 2031. Giving manufacturers and fleets vital extra breathing space.
Two-Year PHEV Benefit-in-Kind Easement
Plug-in hybrids avoid a nasty BiK cliff-edge. PHEVs that meet today’s range test will be treated as emitting just 1 g/km of CO₂ for company-car tax purposes until April 2028, smoothing what would otherwise have been a sudden and painful tax hike.
Salary-Sacrifice EV Schemes Completely Untouched
No changes to the tax treatment of electric cars provided via salary sacrifice the ultra-low BiK rates (3% rising gently to 5% by 2027/28) remain exactly as planned. Still the cheapest way for employees to drive a brand-new EV.
Matt’s Say – Automotive Journalist at Fleetpoint
For five years, we were sold the dream: “Go electric and your drivers will pay almost nothing in tax.” We built business cases, signed long-term salary-sacrifice deals and invested millions on that promise. Now, with the used-EV market finally stabilising, the Government has introduced a brand-new tax that will add hundreds and in some cases thousands of pounds to our annual running costs. It’s not the size of the bill that stings most. It’s the broken trust. Policy U-turns like this make genuine long-term fleet planning almost impossible. This feels like a classic bait-and-switch, and it risks slowing the very transition the Chancellor claims to support.
Fleetpoint will keep you updated on every twist of the 2026 eVED consultation. In the meantime, start adding 3p per mile to every EV TCO model you run from 2028 onwards because the goalposts have moved again.
