Driving an EV in London 2026: ULEZ, Congestion Charge, and What Changed

For years, driving an electric car into central London came with a major perk: free entry. The Cleaner Vehicle Discount gave electric and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles a 100% exemption from the Congestion Charge, saving regular drivers thousands of pounds a year compared to petrol and diesel motorists.

That changed on 25 December 2025. From the start of 2026, EVs lost their full exemption and now pay a reduced Congestion Charge of £13.50 per day. At the same time, the standard charge rose from £15 to £18 for everyone else.

ULEZ — often confused with the Congestion Charge — is a completely separate scheme, and EVs remain exempt from it 24/7 across all of Greater London. Here's the full picture of what an EV driver actually pays in London now, and how those costs compare to before.

ULEZ vs Congestion Charge: two different zones, two different schemes

This is the single biggest source of confusion, so it's worth being explicit.

You can be liable for both charges on the same day if you drive a non-compliant diesel into central London on a weekday afternoon. For an EV driver, it's only the Congestion Charge that costs money — ULEZ is still free.

You can check whether any vehicle is ULEZ-compliant by entering its registration on our free checker. Compliance depends on the engine and emissions standard, not the registration date alone.

What changed for EVs on 25 December 2025

The Cleaner Vehicle Discount (CVD) gave fully electric and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles a 100% discount on the Congestion Charge. It expired on Christmas Day 2025 and was not extended.

From 2 January 2026, the discount structure replacing it works like this:

• Electric cars on Auto Pay: 25% discount → £13.50/day (full charge £18)
• Electric vans, HGVs, quadricycles on Auto Pay: 50% discount → £9/day
• EVs without Auto Pay: no discount — full £18/day

For an EV commuter who drove into central London five days a week and previously paid nothing, the change means:

• Old cost: £0/week
• New cost: £67.50/week (Auto Pay) or £90/week (without Auto Pay)
• New annual cost: ~£3,500/year on Auto Pay (assuming 52 weeks)

For drivers who only occasionally venture into central London, the impact is smaller — but no longer zero.

Why TfL ended the discount

The headline reason is that EV adoption has accelerated faster than expected. When the discount was introduced, fewer than 1% of London traffic was electric. By late 2025, that figure was approaching 10%, meaning the discount was costing TfL tens of millions in lost revenue while no longer functioning as an effective behavioural nudge — drivers were buying EVs for many reasons, not just the central London exemption.

TfL has also been clear that the discount is being tapered, not removed. The 25% discount applies until 4 March 2030, at which point it reduces to 12.5%. There is no current plan to eliminate the EV discount entirely.

What about ULEZ? (Spoiler: nothing changed for EVs)

ULEZ remains entirely separate. EVs continue to be fully exempt from the £12.50 daily ULEZ charge, with no time limit and no discount taper. This is the longer-term, larger-impact exemption — it covers all of Greater London and applies 24 hours a day, year-round.

If your usual driving is school runs, supermarket trips, and outer-London journeys, you probably never enter the Congestion Charge zone — and ULEZ is the only London charge you should care about. For an EV driver, that means continued zero charges for the vast majority of London driving.

Check your vehicle's ULEZ compliance status instantly with our free checker — it shows whether you'd pay £12.50 a day or nothing.

How to register for Auto Pay (and why you should)

If you drive an EV into central London more than once a month, Auto Pay pays for itself almost immediately through the 25% discount alone:

• Without Auto Pay: £18 per visit
• With Auto Pay: £13.50 per visit
• Saving: £4.50 per day

There's a small annual registration fee per vehicle (currently around £10), so even just 3 trips a year breaks even on the fee. Register your vehicle on the TfL website with your card details — it then charges your card automatically for any day you drive in the zone, with the EV discount applied.

A nice side effect: Auto Pay also covers ULEZ for non-compliant vehicles. So one registration handles both schemes if your driving spans them.

What this means for buying an EV in 2026

Free London access used to be one of the strongest financial arguments for buying an EV — especially for company car drivers and regular commuters into the City or West End. That argument is now weaker but not gone:

• EVs still save £12.50/day vs non-compliant ICE cars on every London journey (ULEZ savings)
• EVs save £4.50/day vs petrol/diesel on Congestion Charge zone trips (Auto Pay discount)
• Fuel costs remain far lower — typically 4–6p per mile on home charging vs 15–18p on petrol
• The new Electric Car Grant takes up to £3,750 off new EVs under £37,000
• Low VED — £10 first year, £200/year standard rate

For a regular central London driver, the total annual London-only saving on an EV vs a non-compliant diesel is still ~£4,000–£5,000 when you combine ULEZ avoidance, the Auto Pay discount, and fuel savings. That's down from ~£8,000 before the CVD ended, but it remains substantial.

If you're shopping for a used EV specifically to access London, getting a proper pre-purchase inspection is worth the £100 it costs — battery health is invisible from the outside, and a worn-out battery in a five-year-old EV is the most expensive single repair you can face. Compare local garage prices for an EV pre-purchase inspection on BookMyGarage — many independents now offer EV-specific inspection packages that include a battery state-of-health check.

What about hybrids?

Plug-in and self-charging hybrids never qualified for the Cleaner Vehicle Discount on the Congestion Charge — only fully electric and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles did. Hybrids pay the full £18 in the Congestion Charge zone.

Most modern hybrids are ULEZ-compliant (because they meet Euro 6 standards on the petrol engine), so they avoid the separate £12.50 ULEZ charge — but they enjoy no discount or exemption on the Congestion Charge. Our guide on petrol vs diesel vs hybrid vs electric covers running costs across all four fuel types in detail.

What's next: the 2030 taper

The next scheduled change is 4 March 2030, when the EV discount reduces from 25% to 12.5%. At today's £18 charge, that would mean EVs paying £15.75/day on Auto Pay instead of £13.50. The 50% discount for electric vans, HGVs, and quadricycles reduces to 25% at the same time.

The Congestion Charge itself is also reviewed periodically. TfL has signalled that further charge increases are likely if congestion volumes stay high, so the 2030 baseline of £18 may itself have risen by then.

The bottom line

EV drivers in London have lost their best perk, but kept their bigger one. The Congestion Charge exemption is gone — replaced by a 25% Auto Pay discount that costs regular commuters around £3,500 a year compared to nothing previously. ULEZ exemption, which is the larger and more frequent saving for most drivers, is entirely unchanged.

If you drive into central London regularly, register for Auto Pay today — it more than covers its £10 annual fee within a few trips. And if you're weighing an EV purchase based partly on London access, the maths still works in the EV's favour, just less dramatically than 12 months ago.

For a full picture of what any vehicle pays to drive in London, run a free ULEZ check — it covers ULEZ compliance and links through to current Congestion Charge information. For wider EV running costs, see the real cost of owning an electric car in the UK.