No driveway? Public charging keeps 20% VAT, but £100m is coming for on-street chargers

What the Budget decided

Around a third of UK drivers do not have their own driveway, according to an independent review of public charging costs published with the Budget on 28 October 2026. Those drivers pay more to run an electric car, because public charging costs more than home charging and carries a higher rate of VAT.

The Budget did three things:

• Kept 20% VAT on public charging. HMRC's Revenue and Customs Brief 13 (2026) says electricity from publicly accessible chargers, and from workplace chargers, is not for domestic use, so it is standard-rated at 20%. The law confirming this takes effect on 1 November 2026. It follows a First-tier Tribunal case, Charge My Street Ltd, which had raised questions about the rate.
• £100 million for local chargers. The government will spend £100 million over the next two years to reduce costs at local, lower-powered public chargers, from spring 2027. It expects this to save the average EV driver who charges on the street, without a home charger, around £150 a year. The Department for Transport will set out details later.
• A taskforce on "home tariffs" at public chargers. It will look at letting drivers use their own domestic electricity tariff at local, lower-powered public chargers. The government calls this "a complex proposal that will take time to consider".

What charging costs per mile

The review, led by Philip New for the Department for Transport, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the Treasury, compared the cost per mile of different ways to charge:

Source: Cost of public electric vehicle charging review, Table 1, using the Zapmap Price Index (October 2026) and government fuel price data. The home charging range depends on how much you charge off-peak.

The review also found that, after inflation, slower (AC) public charging prices are up 69% since 2021 and rapid (DC) prices up 94%. The average standard public tariff is 54p per kWh, and the average rapid and ultra-rapid tariff 79p per kWh.

So an electric car charged mostly at home is far cheaper to run than petrol, but one charged only at rapid chargers can cost more than petrol per mile.

What it means for you

• If you can charge at home, keep doing so, ideally on an off-peak tariff. Home electricity is at 0% VAT until 30 June 2027.
• If you charge on the street, use slower local chargers where you can rather than rapid hubs. They are cheaper now, and they are where the £100 million support will go from spring 2027.
• Work out your own costs with our EV charging cost calculator, and compare with petrol in our petrol vs electric guide.
• Remember pay-per-mile tax: from April 2028 electric cars will pay 3p a mile on top of charging. Read our eVED explainer, updated with the Budget changes.

See everything else the Budget changed for drivers, including the fuel duty rise due on 1 July 2027, in our Budget 2026 guide.

Questions drivers ask

Sources

• HM Treasury: Budget 2026 document (28 October 2026), section 4.4
• HMRC: Revenue and Customs Brief 13 (2026): VAT and Climate Change Levy on electric vehicle charging for non-domestic use
• GOV.UK: Cost of public electric vehicle charging review (Philip New, October 2026)
• HMRC: Budget 2026 Overview of tax legislation and rates (OOTLAR), 2.20

Facts checked against the sources above on 29 October 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.