Want to pay nothing in VED road tax? You’ll have to buy an EV. Here are out top 10 tax-free cars under the latest rules
The UK VED road tax system can be full of pitfalls, especially for the unacquainted. If you’re buying a new car, you’ll want to know how much that vehicle is going to cost you on a month-by-month basis, and that can vary wildly depending on which of the car tax bands your new wheels fall into. More often than not, a car’s on-the-road price will include its first year of tax, but after that it’s down to you to pay up every year.
From 1 April 2017, the government introduced new rules which completely shook up the system. Cars which previously cost pennies to tax now face significant annual bills and if you want a vehicle that’s free to tax for the foreseeable future you’ll now need an electric car.
That’s right, gone are the days when you could buy a tax-free car running on conventional fuel. Only zero-emissions vehicles will qualify for that particular privilege, and even then there’ll be something to pay annually on models costing over £40,000, so even hydrogen fuel cell cars pay the taxman for the first few years.
Hyundai Kona Electric 150kW Premium SE 64kWh 204PS Auto review
P11D value: £36,240
BIK: £36,240/13%
5-door small SUV
201bhp / 395Nm Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor electric battery
Performance: 7.6s / 104mph
CO2 emissions/economy: 0g/km / 248 miles
What is it?
THE standard Kona is a well liked compact SUV that takes the usual benefits and packages them up in a distinctive design that is covered in sharp edges, converging crease, multiple light units and contrasting plastics and paints. It sounds a mess but works well.
Hyundai Kona Electric (Image: Hyundai)
Now Hyundai has taken the petrol and diesel engines out and replaced them with a pure electric drivetrain. There are two power outputs available from two battery capacities – the smaller 39kWh battery provides 134bhp, while the higher capacity 64kWh battery can deliver 201bhp. The increased capacity also increases range, with a WLTP rated range of 279 miles.
The entry model seems designed intentionally to upset Nissan, offering marginally more range in an on-trend SUV bodystyle, and all but matching it on price. Prices rise to just under £32,000 (including the government OLEV grant) for the fully-specced, big battery, Premium SE model.
Why would you want to drive a Hyundai Kona EV?
We got to drive the 64kWh version on the launch event, which means it was the more rapid of the two options. We all know about the instant acceleration offered by electric cars, but the Kona still surprises; 62mph comes along in just 7.6 seconds, despite the car weighing just under 1.7 tonnes. However, while it’s quick off the line, thrust fades away once you start reaching low motorway speeds, and it’s gone entirely at three figures.
It also does a good job at matching its official range, although the caveat there is that the first test was done on perfect, near empty, Norwegian roads – we’ll be testing the car on the flawed UK network soon. Still, despite a bit of ‘performance testing’ and a fair slog of motorway miles, the Kona’s on board computer suggested we’d get pretty close to that near 300 mile range. With rapid charging taking just 75 minutes to reach 80% charge (or about 260 miles of range) the days of range anxiety should be mostly just a memory.
While charging at 50kW at motorway services or the like can top the car up quickly, most will charge at home. Leaving it plugged in overnight will see a full charge in around nine and a half hours, assuming you’ve had a 7kW charger installed. These are subsidised up to £500 by the government, and even those with the heaviest of right foots will find that electricity is far cheaper than petrol.
Electric power means zero emissions, and that, in turn, means lower company car tax. With a BIK burden of just 13% (based on the full price, not the price after the government OLEV subsidy) that translates to a 20% taxpayer bill of less than £80 a month.
Ignore the EV side of things, and the Kona performs as any other similarly sized SUV. It rides quite nicely thanks to that longer suspension travel, and there’s enough room inside to accommodate four adults in comfort, and five at a squeeze. The boot remains a decent size too, despite losing 29 litres due to the presence of a battery pack under the floor.
It’s also loaded with equipment, at least in Premium or Premium SE spec. It’s positively luxurious, with heated and ventilated leather seats and a heated steering wheel, eight-inch infotainment with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, wireless phone charging, head up display, LED lights front and rear and a Krell audio system with eight speakers and subwoofer.
Hyundai has not overlooked safety, with the Kona EV being equipped with automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, blind spot protection, lane keeping assist, rear cross traffic alerts and much more.
The Jaguar I-PACE was the best selling vehicle (of any type) in December, while the Tesla Model S was the #1 plug-in vehicle for all of 2018.
December had 6,232 plug-in vehicle registrations in the Netherlands, a four-fold increase compared to the same month last year and the market’s best month since December ’16. The sales total translates into a stratospheric 31% plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) share in December, pulling the 2018 PEV share to 6%, a great result, especially when we realise that BEVs represented 89% of PEV registrations in 2018 and 98% in December alone.
Of course, the higher taxation of expensive BEVs in 2019 is the major reason for this surge, but something tells me (ahem, Tesla Model 3 …) that this exponential growth is set to continue through 2019.
Jaguar I-PACE Electric Car (Image: T. Larkum)
This good market performance was the result of three exceptional individual results, starting with the Best Seller of the Month, the Jaguar I-PACE, which delivered 2,621 units, not only a new all-time record for a BEV, but also the first time that a 100% electric vehicle became the best selling model in the mainstream market.
Performance-focused Cooper S E will be first for the brand and the first all-electric hot hatchback on sale
Mini’s first electric car will also be the industry’s first electric hot hatch, engineering sources in Germany have revealed.
Rather than a sole focus on economy and eking out range, Mini is developing its electric car with performance in mind. To that end, the model will be badged Cooper S E when it is unveiled later this year to reflect its performance hierarchy in the Mini range.
MINI Countryman PHEV (Image: T. Larkum)
The Cooper S E will be based on the Mini three-door hatchback. That car’s UKL1 platform wasn’t originally designed with an all-electric model in mind, so has been adapted to accommodate the technology.
The BMW i3 S’s 181bhp electric motor is understood to be the most likely power source for the new Mini, meaning it will give little away to the 189bhp 2.0-litre engine of the Cooper S. The added weight of the batteries will be largely offset by the instant torque and lack of gears, meaning similar acceleration times.
Latest electric cars sales results show we may expect a dramatic rise this year. Lead times should increase too.
In 2018 the electric vehicle segment grew by 10%. If we look at available figures, we’ll see, that one in every 100 cars sold in November 2018 was pure electric. Compared to the same month of 2017, it is almost by 70% more.
Experts have advised customers to make orders for EVs promptly to beat lengthening lead times.
A period from placing an order and its delivery to a customer (lead time) vary from 10 weeks to half a year for new electric cars, depending on a model.
Jaguar I-PACE Electric Car (Image: T. Larkum)
For example, the lead time for the Jaguar I-Pace (pictured) is 6 month, for the popular Hyundai Kona Electric – up to 10 months, the Hyundai Ioniq – 4 month, for the Volkswagen e-Golf – 18 weeks.
As for the all-electric Kia Soul, a small number of vehicles left in showrooms, as a newer model will replace the current one this year. Supplies are running low.
Research shows that some 37 per cent of motorists cite a distance of up to 300 miles as the range that would entice them to buy a pure electric vehicle. Their wait is over.
For many years the main barrier to consumer acceptance of electric vehicles has been “range anxiety”. Drivers have often wildly overestimated the length of their journeys, and underestimated the ability of electric vehicles to meet that need.
Now, though, the advances in electric vehicle technology – especially in sheer battery power – are gradually eroding that consumer resistance: electric cars are now within a matter of a few miles of meeting the range demands of more than one in three motorists – 300 miles or so.
Hyundai Kona Electric (Image: Hyundai)
Research by DrivingElectric.com, the independent consumer advice website for electric vehicles, shows that some 37 per cent of motorists cite a distance of up to 300 miles as the range that would entice them to buy a pure electric vehicle (that is, not a hybrid which also has a traditional petrol engine).
So now cars such as the long-range Hyundai Kona Electric – which can cover 292 miles – fall just eight miles short of the most common figure for consumers’ range ambitions.
Improvements in technology are arriving faster than many motorists realise, which means many don’t know their demands for range have already been met.
Scottish Water chooses the Renault Kangoo Z.E. 33 for its first-ever electric vehicles
Water Provider’s sampling division to use a specially-converted version across the Highlands
Initial order designed to allow Scottish Water to determine how it can electrify its entire fleet
Zero-emissions-in-use Renault Kangoo Z.E. 33 will assist Scottish Water’s drive to lower its carbon footprint
Kangoo Z.E. 33 was chosen for its environmental compatibility, ease-of-use and versatile load area
Renault Kangoo Z.E. 33 is priced from £18,392, excluding VAT, after the Plug-in Van Grant
A pure-electric Renault Kangoo Z.E. 33 refrigerator conversion is enabling Scotland’s water provider to continue its drive to make the country’s air and water the cleanest it can be.
Scottish Water, which provides drinking water to nearly 2.5 million households across the country, is using the zero-emissions-in-use, refrigerated Renault Kangoo Z.E. 33 to assist with the water sampling undertaken by its Scientific Services team across the Highlands.
Scottish Water Renault Kangoo electric van (Image: Renault)
The introduction of the award-winning light commercial – the first electric vehicle utilised by Scottish Water – will also help the water supplier to determine how it can rollout EVs across its fleet and make a significant contribution to its support of the Scottish Government’s carbon target to reduce carbon emissions by 90 per cent by 2050.
As part of the conversion by Bott Ltd, and which also contributes to the van having minimal impact in terms of noise and pollution on the beautiful landscape of the Highlands, the strikingly-liveried Renault Kangoo Z.E. 33 features roof-mounted 150-watt solar panels to power its onboard refrigeration equipment. The panels charge a 200 amp lithium battery, which in turn powers the 140-litre temperature-controlled refrigerator that is required to keep water samples in optimum condition during transportation.
With a ‘real-world’ range of up to 124 summer miles (75-99 miles in winter) on a single charge, the Renault Kangoo Z.E. 33 is able to comfortably accommodate the routes throughout the Highlands that are regularly completed by Scottish Water’s water samplers. Scottish Water plans to charge the van via 26 charging points that are available at its numerous locations, which include The Bridge, Castle House, Fairmilehead, Juniper House, Gowans Terrace, Henderson Drive, Bullion House and Shieldhall.
Complementing the bespoke conversion is an additional Renault Kangoo Z.E. 33 Panel Van, which will be used by Scottish Water’s maintenance team. Offering a near identical payload to its diesel counterpart, the Kangoo Z.E. 33 Panel Van offers Scottish Water a viable, all-electric alternative to the conventionally-powered compact vans that feature on its fleet.
Scottish Water chose sampling and general cargo vans for its EV trial as these types of vehicle represent the highest proportion of its small van fleet. Sampling vans represent approximately 12 per cent of the total Scottish Water fleet, with general cargo vans accounting for circa 20 per cent.
Working in collaboration with Renault Pro+ Commercial Vehicles on the trial, which has included the manufacturer delivering EV training to Scottish Water employees, Scottish Water opted for the Renault Kangoo Z.E. 33 due to its usable range, versatility and ease of operation.
Driving from Northampton to Surrey to visit my family over Christmas I was due to go past the new Milton Keynes Charging Hub so took the opportunity to call in.
The Hub was developed by Milton Keynes Council with a government grant, with the charging infrastructure provided by BP Chargemaster. I had heard on social media that the hub was recently completed. However there’s been nothing in the mainstream press about it – I’m guessing there’ll be an official launch soon.
Milton Keynes ‘Mushrooms’ Charging Hub (Image: T. Larkum)
It is quite difficult to find. It is tucked away at the far corner of the Coachway bus station (near Junction 14 of the M1) and there’s no signage in place yet. There were fresh road markings in place though.
The location is pretty good, not just because of proximity to the motorway. Being co-located with the bus station means that while you wait to charge there’s easy access on foot to its cafe and toilets (though you have to pay 30p for the latter).
The hub consists of a triangular island with 8 rapid chargers around its edge (why not 9?) all covered over with three large concrete ‘mushroom’ canopies for rain protection. I was there mid-week and it was pretty quiet, however two other EVs did call in even during the short time I was there topping up my i3.
Charging is through BP Chargemaster’s Polar network so requires either the Polar Instant app or Polar Plus subscription as described previously.
BP Chargemaster Rapid Charger at Milton Keynes Charging Hub (Image: T. Larkum)
The Hub is a great idea and seems to be implemented well. It also gives an exciting view into the future of organised EV charging, being potentially a bit like using an airport lounge. It represents another nail in the coffin of fossil fuel motoring – who would want to relax and eat at a petrol station?!
If there’s a criticism it’s just the usual one of uneven rapid charger allocation, and one can hardly blame MK council for taking every opportunity to support EVs. But for sure MK alone has more rapid chargers than anywhere else in the UK, including the entire country of Wales.
If you need to be able to transport up to seven people but thought electric motoring was not an option then think again.
Nissan has billed its e-NV200 Combi as the world’s first electric MPV.
It might not get the same sort of coverage at its higher profile stablemate the Nissan Leaf or more upmarket electric offerings like the Jaguar I-Pace and Tesla Model S but the e-NV200 certainly fills a niche and in many ways makes perfect sense.
Its van underpinnings (essentially it’s a version of the e-NV200 van) mean it might be just a little too rough and rugged for some but the ability to transport up to seven people and its immense practicality combine to make a fairly compelling USP.
There are both five and seven-seat versions of the e-NV200, though I would imagine most buyers will probably plump for the seven-seater.
The two seats in the third row can be folded up, while the middle-row three-seat bench can also be folded and tumbled out of the way, boosting carrying capacity.
According to Nissan it’s possible to accommodate three full-size bikes with all the seats out of the way.
My initial feeling when I set off in it for the first time was that of being in a kind of upmarket milk float – given the silence, its van-like character and high driving position.
However, once you get over its initial oddness the e-NV200 is a vehicle that is very easy to like and for eco-minded families it is absolutely perfect.
No doubt it will also prove attractive to taxi drivers and shuttle firms.
An increase in electric car usage could be the saviour of the bricks and mortar retail sector, it has been claimed, as people may visit shopping parks and supermarkets to recharge their vehicles.
The “weekly shop” will see a comeback as drivers, especially those living in city centres who do not have a personal charging point in their homes, combine shopping with a regular charge of their car.
Scottish ministers want to phase out the need for petrol and diesel vehicles by 2032. However, those living in city centres, who do not have access to personal driveways and individual charging points will have to use public points to recharge their electric vehicles (EVs).
Electric cars charging in Milton Keynes (Image: T. Larkum)
Barry Carruthers, head of innovation at ScottishPower, said that people would change their behaviour to find convenient charging points, including potentially ditching online grocery shopping in favour of visiting a physical supermarket where they could charge their car while they shop.
He said:
“A lot of people have recently been shopping online or using local convenience stores a few times a week, but when you have the added need to charge your car, you are likely to go back to a once a week shop at a supermarket where you can do that. We do see a potential renaissance for the weekly shop.”
Mr Carruthers, who has his own electric car which he charges at a range of locations including park and ride car parks at train stations for his daily commute, said:
“As electric cars progress, we could be looking at a range of 200 to 300 miles per charge, which would mean that people would only need to charge their vehicles once a week, which could easily be done while shopping.”
