EVA England calls for eVED delay to 2030 and EV benefit-in-kind rates to 2035 in Budget 2026 asks
The EV drivers' association also wants the ZEV mandate left as it is, VAT on public charging equalised with home charging and a statutory chargepoint regulator. Its asks concern company car drivers using salary sacrifice and leasing, and drivers who rely on public chargers.
EVA England published its asks for Budget 2026 on 27 October, along with asks for the further spending decisions expected before Christmas. It presents them as measures that respond to what is holding more drivers back from switching to electric. The association describes the Budget as arriving early, shortly after the close of the ZEV mandate review.
It wants the government to delay eVED, the pay-per-mile tax on electric vehicles, until at least 2030. When the tax is introduced, EVA England wants it to include payments in arrears, a proper refund regime and protection from third-party costs. The association says three quarters of EV drivers fear they will be left out of pocket or penalised by the scheme, a figure it takes from its own eVED survey.
On company cars, it asks for favourable Benefit in Kind rates for EVs to be extended to 2035. It points to the salary sacrifice and leasing schemes that it says are making electric cars more attractive and affordable for many drivers.
EVA England also wants the existing ZEV mandate supported. It argues that changing the mandate would only spread more confusion, doubt and misinformation about EVs, and would undermine a sector it says is starting to work for consumers.
It asks for existing grants to be retargeted at people who want an EV but cannot afford one. In a report produced with T&E and Cambridge Econometrics, EVA England estimates that a subsidised social leasing scheme for middle and lower income households could unlock sales of nearly a million more EVs by 2035.
The association calls the cost of public charging one of the biggest barriers to the EV transition. It wants the government to publish the outcomes of the Cost of Charging Review and to make sure they deliver structural cuts to the prices drivers pay. Until then, it wants VAT equalised between domestic and public charging, in return for a commitment from chargepoint operators to pass the savings on to customers. It also wants charging credits included in any social leasing scheme.
Its Steer the Conversation 2026 survey, published on 22 October, drew on 2,635 responses. It found that 84% of drivers with off-street home charging report substantially lower running costs, compared with 32% of those unable to charge at home. In the same survey, 42% of respondents said public charging costs had risen over the past year.
On regulation, EVA England asks for an independent, statutory Public Chargepoint Regulator with a consumer complaints service and an Ombudsman. It also wants a review of the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act 2018 and the Public Charge Point Regulations 2023, to make sure they work for drivers.
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