The UK’s 2028 pay-per-mile EV charge will reshape driving costs, fleets and green mobility. Here’s what it means and how to prepare now.
UK EV Road Pricing: What Pay-Per-Mile Means For You
By 2028, driving an electric car in the UK won’t just be about cheap charging and zero tailpipe emissions. It’ll also mean paying per mile to use the road.
That’s the direction of travel signalled by the UK government’s planned pay-per-mile charge for EVs from April 2028. For years, electric vehicles have avoided fuel duty and most of Vehicle Excise Duty (VED). That gap is now too big for the Treasury to ignore, especially as petrol and diesel sales keep falling.
This matters because road pricing isn’t just a tax tweak. It changes how people think about driving, how cities manage congestion and air quality, and how green technology and AI can help design fair, low-carbon transport systems.
In this article, I’ll break down what a UK EV pay-per-mile scheme could look like, who it hits hardest, where the opportunities are for cleaner transport, and how businesses can get ahead using data, automation and smart planning.
Why The UK Is Moving Toward Pay-Per-Mile For EVs
The core issue is simple: fuel duty is collapsing just as EV adoption accelerates.
Right now, drivers of petrol and diesel cars pay fuel duty on every litre. EV drivers don’t. As EVs grow from niche to mainstream, that’s a giant hole in public finances.
The revenue problem governments can’t ignore
Most countries rely heavily on fuel taxes. In the UK:
- Fuel duty and VAT on fuel have historically raised tens of billions of pounds a year.
- As EVs replace combustion cars, that tax base erodes kilometre by kilometre.
If nothing changes, governments face a choice:
- Cut road and transport budgets, or
- Shift to distance-based charging that’s technology-neutral (you pay for using the roads, regardless of what powers your car).
From a policy point of view, road pricing is more honest. It links what you pay to how much you drive, not how much fuel you burn.
Why start with electric vehicles?
Targeting EVs first sounds unfair at a glance – they’re the cleaner option. But the logic is:
- EVs are currently under-taxed compared with ICE vehicles.
- The system needs to be built before petrol and diesel are fully phased out.
- Politically, it’s easier to introduce a new framework slowly than flip a switch later.
Here’s the thing about this move: it signals that “cheap to run forever” isn’t a realistic long-term promise for EVs. They’ll still be cheaper to operate than most ICE cars, but the gap will narrow.
How A Pay-Per-Mile EV Charge Might Work
We don’t know the final design yet, but global examples and UK policy papers point in the same direction.
Core components of EV road pricing
A typical pay-per-mile system includes:
- Distance measurement – either via:
- annual odometer readings (MOT, insurance, self-report with verification), or
- GPS-based telematics in the vehicle.
- Price per mile – which can be:
- flat (the same everywhere), or
- dynamic (varies by road type, congestion, emissions zone, or time of day).
- Billing – either pay-as-you-go (like a mobile plan) or periodic (monthly/annual bill).
For 2028, the UK is likely to start with simpler, lower-friction options, such as using odometer data tied to annual VED or insurance renewal, then layering in smarter pricing over time.
Flat fee vs smart distance-based pricing
There are two competing visions:
-
Simple per-mile fee
- One rate for all EVs across the network.
- Easier to explain and implement.
- Doesn’t address congestion or urban air quality directly.
-
Smart, dynamic road pricing
- Higher rates in city centres and peak hours, lower in rural or off-peak.
- Can be tuned to cut congestion and emissions.
- Needs more data, more tech and better public communication.
From a green technology and AI perspective, I’d argue the second model is far smarter. If we’re going to introduce a new system, it should actively push the transport network towards:
- fewer unnecessary car trips,
- more shared mobility,
- better use of public transport,
- cleaner air in dense areas.
Static pricing just raises revenue. Smart pricing can shape behaviour.
Who Wins And Who Loses Under EV Pay-Per-Mile?
A pay-per-mile charge changes the cost balance between different drivers, regions and trip types.
Private drivers
For individual EV owners, the impact will depend on mileage and lifestyle.
-
Low-mileage urban drivers:
- Currently benefit from cheap charging, congestion zones exemptions (in some cities), and low maintenance.
- A modest per-mile tax probably won’t hurt much.
-
High-mileage commuters:
- People doing 15,000–20,000 miles a year will feel this most.
- If you moved to an EV mainly for running-cost savings, expect the payback period to stretch.
-
Rural drivers:
- Rural communities often have fewer public transport options, so road pricing feels punitive.
- If pricing doesn’t distinguish between urban congestion and rural accessibility, it’ll be politically toxic.
A fair design would discount rural miles or offer rebates where public transport is clearly inadequate.
Fleets, logistics and delivery
For fleets, this policy isn’t just a cost – it’s also a powerful optimisation signal.
- Delivery, logistics and field service fleets already track mileage, route efficiency and driver behaviour.
- Add a per-mile tax and suddenly every unnecessary mile has a clear cash value.
This is where AI and green technology meet revenue policy in a useful way:
- Route-optimisation software can minimise distance, idling and congestion exposure.
- Predictive maintenance can cut breakdowns and wasted journeys.
- Smart charging strategies can combine lower electricity tariffs with lower road-use exposure.
I’ve seen businesses cut 10–25% of total fleet mileage just by using better route planning and data. Apply a per-mile charge on top, and those savings double in financial impact.
Government, cities and transport planners
For public bodies, EV road pricing is both a risk and an opportunity:
- Risk: If the scheme is perceived as “taxing green choices”, it could slow EV adoption just when we need to accelerate it.
- Opportunity: If designed well, it can fund:
- better public transport,
- safe cycling/walking networks,
- EV charging infrastructure in underserved areas.
The credibility test is simple: do revenues obviously support greener, more equitable mobility? If the money just disappears into general budgets, public trust will plummet.
The Role Of AI & Green Technology In Smarter Road Pricing
AI isn’t just a buzzword here; it’s the engine that can make pay-per-mile fair, transparent and climate-aligned.
Smarter pricing models with real data
AI systems can analyse billions of data points from:
- traffic flows and congestion patterns,
- air quality sensors,
- weather conditions,
- public transport performance,
- EV charging demand.
From that, they can recommend:
- which areas should have higher or lower per-mile rates,
- how to vary prices by time of day without confusing drivers,
- where pricing would unfairly penalise people with no alternatives.
The reality? A well-trained model can often spot patterns that human planners miss, like micro-congestion hotspots or places where a small bus route change would cut thousands of car journeys.
Real-time guidance for drivers and fleets
Once pricing signals exist, they’re powerful inputs for everyday decisions:
- Navigation apps can factor in per-mile costs and congestion charges, not just time and distance.
- Fleet dashboards can show a real-time cost per route, per job and per customer.
- Sustainability reporting tools can combine:
- mileage,
- taxation,
- carbon intensity of electricity,
- and vehicle efficiency.
For businesses in the green technology space, this is a major lead opportunity:
- EV telematics providers can add road-pricing optimisation features.
- Mobility-as-a-service platforms can price subscriptions based on distance bands instead of blunt monthly fees.
- Smart city vendors can link road pricing with traffic signal control, parking, EV charging and public transport incentives.
Privacy, trust and transparency
Of course, once you mention GPS and pricing, people think surveillance. And they’re not wrong to worry.
A responsible system should:
- Offer an odometer-only option with lower precision but higher privacy.
- Use pseudonymised data for analytics wherever possible.
- Publish clear rules on data retention and secondary use.
- Provide individuals and businesses with visibility and control over their data.
If those basics aren’t in place, no amount of clever AI will rescue public acceptance.
How To Prepare Now: Practical Steps For Drivers And Businesses
You don’t have to wait until 2028 to act. There are smart steps you can take this year.
For individual EV drivers
-
Know your mileage
Track your annual miles for 6–12 months. That gives you a realistic baseline for future costs. -
Optimise your routine trips
Use a navigation app that supports eco-routing. Often you can cut 5–10% of distance just by avoiding unnecessary detours and congestion. -
Think multi-modal
For regular city-centre trips, price in:- EV charging,
- parking,
- and future per-mile costs.
Sometimes a train, bike or shared car scheme will be cheaper and faster.
For fleets and organisations
-
Get serious about telematics
If your vehicles aren’t already tracked, start now. Focus on:- mileage per job,
- idle time,
- congestion exposure.
-
Build a cost-per-mile mindset
Don’t wait for the tax to arrive. Act as if a per-mile charge already exists and:- set internal targets to reduce total fleet miles,
- re-map territories or service areas where routes look inefficient.
-
Invest in AI-powered route planning
Modern route-optimisation tools can:- group jobs intelligently,
- respect time windows,
- match vehicle type to route,
- and factor in EV range and charging.
-
Use road pricing as a sustainability lever
When you reduce mileage, you’re not just saving tax – you’re cutting:- electricity consumption,
- tyre and brake wear (a major source of particulate pollution),
- and total lifecycle emissions.
That alignment of cost savings plus carbon savings is exactly why road pricing belongs in a broader green technology strategy.
What This Means For The Future Of Green Mobility
A UK pay-per-mile charge for EVs from 2028 is more than a line in a budget document. It’s the start of a new phase where how much we drive becomes as important as what we drive.
If policy makers get this right, road pricing can:
- keep public finances stable as fossil fuels phase out,
- support investments in public transport and EV infrastructure,
- reduce congestion and local air pollution,
- and encourage smarter, more efficient use of vehicles.
If they get it wrong, it risks slowing the transition to electric transport and undermining trust in climate policy.
From a green technology perspective, I’m firmly on the side that sees this as an opportunity. The combination of EVs, AI, smart cities and fair road pricing can shrink total car mileage, not just swap petrol for electrons.
Over the next few years, the most resilient organisations will be the ones treating road pricing as a design constraint, not a nuisance. They’ll use data, automation and intelligent planning to turn every mile driven into a conscious, measured choice.
The question for anyone involved in transport, logistics or sustainability is simple: when 2028 arrives, will you just be paying the bill, or will you already be set up to treat every mile as an asset you manage – not a cost that manages you?