Do You Pay Road Tax on Hybrid Cars? Rates and 2028 Changes

Yes, you pay road tax on hybrid cars. Since April 2025, hybrids pay the same Vehicle Excise Duty as petrol and diesel cars: a flat £195 a year after the first year, plus a CO₂-based first-year rate and, for pricier models, a supplement.¹ What you actually hand over depends on when the car was first registered, its CO₂ output, and whether its list price crossed £40,000 when new.

The Standard £195 Annual Rate

For any hybrid registered on or after 1 April 2017, the annual rate from the second tax payment onward is £195.¹ It doesn’t matter whether the car is a full hybrid recovering energy through braking or a plug-in charged from the mains. Same rate as a petrol or diesel car of the same age.

Hybrids used to receive a £10 discount as “alternative fuel vehicles.” The Autumn Statement 2022 abolished that discount, and the change took effect in April 2025.² If you owned a hybrid before then, the first renewal after April 2025 was the point you saw the increase.

What You Pay in the First Year

The first time a hybrid is taxed, the rate is tied to CO₂ output in grams per kilometre. These first-year rates rose sharply from April 2025 under the Autumn Budget 2024 changes.³

1 to 50 g/km: £110. Most plug-in hybrids sit here.
51 to 75 g/km: £130. Some older plug-ins and efficient full hybrids.
76 to 90 g/km: £270. Many conventional full hybrids.
91 to 100 g/km: £350.
101 to 130 g/km: £390 to £440. Larger or heavier hybrids often land here.

Non-RDE2-compliant diesel hybrids pay more at every band. A diesel hybrid emitting 1 to 50 g/km, for example, pays £130 rather than £110.¹ From year two, every hybrid drops to the £195 standard rate regardless of emissions.

The £40,000 List Price Supplement

If your hybrid’s list price when new was above £40,000, you pay an extra annual charge on top of the £195 standard rate. This is the expensive car supplement, and it catches plenty of plug-in hybrids because battery hardware and higher trim levels push list prices over the line.⁴

The list price is the manufacturer’s recommended retail price including factory-fitted options and delivery, not what you actually paid. A dealer discount doesn’t help. The supplement starts at the second tax payment, runs for five consecutive years, and ends after the sixth year of registration, at which point the car reverts to the flat £195.

From April 2026, zero-emission cars get a higher £50,000 threshold before this supplement applies.⁵ Hybrids do not. For any car with a combustion engine, the threshold stays at £40,000.

Older Hybrids Registered Before April 2017

Hybrids first registered between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017 follow a completely different system. Instead of a flat rate, they sit in emission bands A through M, with the annual cost linked directly to CO₂ output.⁶

Many early hybrids, including first-generation Toyota Prius and Honda Insight models, fall into Band A (up to 100 g/km) or Band B (101 to 110 g/km). Band A used to be free but rose to £20 a year from April 2025. Band B is also £20, and Band C (111 to 120 g/km) is £35.⁷ These are still among the cheapest cars to tax.

The band stays with the vehicle for life. It doesn’t change on sale, and mileage and age don’t affect it. Before buying a pre-2017 hybrid, check the V5C logbook for the exact CO₂ figure to confirm the band.

A New Mileage Charge for Plug-In Hybrids From 2028

From April 2028, plug-in hybrid owners face an additional charge. The government is introducing electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED), a mileage-based supplement on top of regular VED, applying to all UK-registered plug-in hybrid and fully electric cars.⁸ The rates are set at roughly half the fuel duty a petrol or diesel driver pays per mile.

Fully electric cars: 3 pence per mile.
Plug-in hybrids: 1.5 pence per mile, reflecting the fuel duty PHEVs already pay on petrol miles.

A plug-in hybrid covering 8,000 miles a year would pay roughly £120 in eVED on top of the £195 standard rate. The rate will be adjusted for inflation from 2029-30 onward.⁸ Drivers self-report their mileage through the existing VED renewal process; the government has confirmed there will be no trackers and no reporting of where or when miles were driven.

Standard (non-plug-in) hybrids are not in scope. If your hybrid generates all its electric power internally through regenerative braking, eVED will not apply.

What Happens If You Don’t Tax It

Every vehicle kept or driven on a public road needs valid VED. If the DVLA flags your car as untaxed and you haven’t filed a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN), you automatically receive an £80 penalty, reduced to £40 if paid within 33 days.⁹ Driving an untaxed vehicle can lead to a court fine of up to £2,500, and the DVLA can clamp or impound the car until the tax is paid.

If your hybrid is genuinely off the road, stored in a garage, on a driveway, or on private land, you can file a SORN at no cost. A SORN means no tax or insurance is needed, but you can’t drive the car on a public road except to a pre-booked MOT. When you’re ready to use it again, tax the car and the SORN ends automatically.⁹ If you’re laying a hybrid up over winter or while waiting for repairs, file the SORN before the existing tax runs out.

1
GOV.UK. Vehicle Tax Rates – Cars Registered on or After 1 April 2017
2
GOV.UK. Autumn Statement 2022 HTML – Section: VED on Electric Vehicles
3
GOV.UK. Vehicle Excise Duty First-Year Rates for Cars From 1 April 2025
4
GOV.UK. Increase in the Vehicle Excise Duty Expensive Car Supplement Threshold for Zero Emission Cars
5
GOV.UK. Vehicle Excise Duty for Expensive Car Supplement Threshold Increase for Zero Emission Vehicles
6
GOV.UK. Vehicle Tax Rates – Cars Registered Between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017
7
House of Commons Library. Vehicle Excise Duty and Zero Emission Vehicles
8
GOV.UK. Consultation on the Introduction of Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED)
9
GOV.UK. When You Need to Make a SORN – Overview