Budget 2026: pay-per-mile EVs and what fleets should do

The 28 October Budget set out a long list of measures for fleets, summarised by FleetPoint. The headline is a new electric vehicle excise duty from April 2028: 3p a mile for fully electric cars and 1.5p for plug-in hybrids, with a mileage estimation tool at launch and an opt-in eVED Connect service that reads mileage from the vehicle. Company car tax for 2030/31 is set one point above 2029/30, taking zero-emission cars to 10%, and the 55p tax-free rate for the first 10,000 business miles becomes permanent.

For an established operator these changes move the cost of running electric cars from a fixed annual charge towards a cost per mile. That makes accurate mileage, by vehicle and by driver, a direct input to tax as well as to fuel, maintenance and carbon reporting. Fuel duty relief now runs to July 2027 and the Depot Charging Scheme continues to 2030, so the case for electrification still stands, but whole-life cost models built on old assumptions will need revisiting.

The practical step is to check what mileage data you already hold and how reliable it is. Telematics, fuel cards, expense claims and lease records often disagree, and that gap will matter once mileage is taxed. Re-run your vehicle choice and salary sacrifice models against the 2030/31 rates, and look out for the Treasury's promised guidance for fleet operators before committing to how mileage is captured.

Sticklebrick starts with the data. The free Data Readiness Score shows whether your telematics and finance records can support per-mile costing, and a contained six-week Pilot can join them into a single view. Where it fits, Fleetgenius handles the fleet analysis and GreenTurtles the carbon reporting, from the same mileage record.