I could see this coming a mile away - with the Treasury being the money-grabbers they are, VED and BIK tax has had nothing to do with reducing emissions for some time now, hence why all the 'benefits' of going EV will be wiped out as soon as they are numerous enough to make a significant financial dent in HMG's income from those taxes.

After all, that's exactly what happened when car manufacturers tinkered with engine mapping and management (often not good for driveability or, in the case of some, possibly illegal) to just duck under certain VED/BIK boundaries, e.g. the original zero rated under 100g/km, 80g/km (?) or the next two rated for VED at £20/£30 rather than the £120+ rate.

Similarly with all those people who bought large SUVs with hybrid petrol engines with PHEV like that big Mitsubishi to reduce their VED/BIK, which isn't exactly 'green' except under test conditions.

IMHO, the trouble is that the rules/laws encouarge people to often make the wrong decision on what car to buy just to reduce their tax burden (at the expense of buying the car in the first place, which they may not even need if their original car is well maintained and working fine), which often lasts just a few years, often sucking them in to replacing the car quite often (more taxes from VAT) and wasting a lot of money on depreciation and/or repayment costs.

Edited by Engineer Andy on 14/08/2021 at 15:20

The particular way the 95g tax works is to apply it in the first instance to the manufacturers. How they pass it on is up to them. It’s also potentially huge sums. Fleet News ( pre COVID ) estimated that VAG might be liable for £1.4 bn (yes, billion) euros.

Ouch.