The Government just made EVs and plug-in hybrids far less attractive

The desperate, deranged and deeply depressing final week of November will go down as one of the worst and most controversial ever for Britain’s 42 million bruised and abused drivers, who are being messed around something rotten by the state.

Months (not years) ago, in Labour’s election manifesto, there was no mention, or even a subtle hint that – if elected – it would change the course of motoring history by dumping upon us a pay-per-mile road-toll regime.

Yet that’s what it’s just announced. Worse still, the British Government’s pay-per-mile (PPM) racket will apply everywhere: country lanes; village, town and city streets; A-roads; motorways; private land… you name it.

True, for the time being at least, the official word from our shaky, clueless leaders is that only drivers of electric cars and plug-in hybrids will have to pay per mile.

So the negatively game-changing offer to existing and future buyers or users of such cars today goes like this: First, be financially punished by paying comparatively high prices for your hi-tech EVs or PHEVs which, in turn, provide the Government with higher VAT receipts.

Second, pay through the nose again when using some public charging points where the prices are obscenely high (as are the profits enjoyed by HM Treasury after its greedy VAT fees are added to those extortionate basic prices that should be outlawed).

Third, remember that by sticking with the EV or plug-in hybrid you already have, or by buying one in future, you will be entering the administrative and financial nightmare of Britain’s new, ill-thought-out PPM system. Normally, a major plus point when buying a new car and keeping it for only two or three years is that MoT centres can be avoided. But not for much longer, because new or nearly new EVs and plug-in hybrids will, as part of Labour’s PPM venture, need to be booked in so staff can verify mileages. How’s that for progress?

The Government couldn’t have done a better job of disincentivising pure EVs and plug-in hybrids if it tried. Plus the Chancellor has also hinted that regular, non-plug-in hybrids could be the next victims in her PPM shenanigans. If and when they are, only combustion-engined cars will be exempt from the curse of the PPM racket that nobody asked or voted for.

And at that point, countless consumers will understandably ask: “Why would we buy EVs or hybrids, suffering the hassle and expense of PPM charges, when we can drive cheaper-to-buy and cheaper-to-insure petrols or diesels that exempt us from all this PPM nonsense?”

It’s a fair question that the Chancellor needs to answer. And at the same time, she might like to explain why, when seeking election months ago, she forgot to mention she’d dump punitive road-toll fees on all EV and at least some hybrid drivers.

Shouldn’t there be a law against this sort of iffy, less-than-honest behaviour from out-of-their-depth politicians who don’t understand cars... or car people?

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