New analysis by the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) and New Automotive has mapped the full financial impact of a proposed pay-per-mile (PPM) eVED) tax across every parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom.
The findings expose an unfairness for drivers least able to reduce their mileage and least likely to have access to the public transport, charging infrastructure, or household income that would make EV ownership straightforward.
At 3p per mile, the proposed PPM eVED rate, annual bills will vary enormously depending not on how much a driver earns, or how much they pollute, but simply on where they live.
The analysis reveals two distinct pictures depending on how the burden is measured.
Measured by total constituency eVED bill, the projected annual sum taken from all EV drivers in a seat, the highest-impact areas are urban constituencies with large and growing EV fleets.
But measured by what each individual EV driver pays, the picture inverts. In high-mileage, low-fleet constituencies, areas where car ownership is essential, but EV adoption has been slower, the per-driver burden is highest.
The difference is structural. Rural drivers travel further because they have no choice. The same 3p-per-mile rate that feels modest in a city where a commute might cover five miles each way becomes a significant annual outgoing for someone covering twenty miles to reach a GP surgery, a supermarket, or a train station.
Toby Poston, Chief Executive, BVRLA, said: "A flat pay-per-mile charge might look fair on paper, but its burden falls hardest on the drivers least able to avoid it. People who live in less connected areas don't drive more because they want to: they drive more because they have no choice. Their towns don’t have the luxury of the network of trains, tubes and cycle lanes that make car-free living possible in cities.
"Under these proposals, a driver in Caithness or rural Norfolk will pay three times the annual road tax of someone in central London. Not because of how much they earn, or how much they pollute, but simply because of where they live. That is not a fair system. Any future eVED framework must account for the reality that for millions of people across this country, the car is not a lifestyle choice. It is the only option."
Tanya Sinclair, CEO, Electric Vehicles UK, said: "The geography of this data is damning. Rural drivers, fewer chargers, longer journeys, highest bills. That is the opposite of a fair transition.
"And this week the government quietly confirmed it won't raise fuel duty either. So petrol gets cheaper in real terms while EV drivers are punished. If there is a coherent strategy here, it is not visible from the outside."
