Driving an EV into Central London
Discussion
I’m driving into London tomorrow with my EV (BEV) (parking near Soho)
It’s a company car so I haven’t been able to apply for the Cleaner Vehicle Discount.
Question is whilst I know I don’t have ULEZ to pay for do I have the Congestion Charge to pay (£15). I think I do just wanted to check!
Thanks in advance.
It’s a company car so I haven’t been able to apply for the Cleaner Vehicle Discount.
Question is whilst I know I don’t have ULEZ to pay for do I have the Congestion Charge to pay (£15). I think I do just wanted to check!
Thanks in advance.
TuftonStreet said:
This, unless you have registered for the TFL cleaner vehicle discount you still need to pay congestion charge even though it’s an EV.
There’s a £10 per year fee to register it.
I had it on my i3 years ago - my company won’t give me the v5 to send across to TFL so it’s a non starterThere’s a £10 per year fee to register it.
CooperS said:
I had it on my i3 years ago - my company won’t give me the v5 to send across to TFL so it’s a non starter
Pretty sure you don’t need it; I didn’t and from memory (someone on the PH forum kindly advised me) you take a screenshot / pdf of the tfl page that shows your car is zero emissions and send that instead of the V5.Hopefully someone will confirm or correct this information.
CooperS said:
TuftonStreet said:
This, unless you have registered for the TFL cleaner vehicle discount you still need to pay congestion charge even though it’s an EV.
There’s a £10 per year fee to register it.
I had it on my i3 years ago - my company won’t give me the v5 to send across to TFL so it’s a non starterThere’s a £10 per year fee to register it.
You just send a copy of the DVLA vehicle check that shows your car is zero emissions and you’ll get approved by TFL.
Kermit power said:
Why on earth would you ever want to drive into Central London???
I had to drive a 42 mile round trip today because I had to take more kit with me than I could take on the train...
Four hours and twenty seven f
king minutes behind the wheel!!! 
Weekends tend to be a bit quieter. I had to drive a 42 mile round trip today because I had to take more kit with me than I could take on the train...
Four hours and twenty seven f
king minutes behind the wheel!!! We always drive into London when doing stuff with the children. It’s cheaper, easier if the weather is rubbish and often a bit quicker as we’re not waiting around for trains, tubes etc
That said I used to live in zone 1 and still drive places - not having to sit next to someone with questionable personal hygiene is a big benefit.
Greenmantle said:
WTAF is this "Cleaner Vehicle Discount" BS Red Tape.
TFL already know make, model, fuel type of every vehicle in the DVLA database why do they need to have my personal details as well.
Oh yes PPM!
TFL already know make, model, fuel type of every vehicle in the DVLA database why do they need to have my personal details as well.
Oh yes PPM!
It’s because they are money grabbing bar stewards - they’re banking on occasional visitors not going through the hassle of registering their EV - especially as many won’t have the V5 as it’s a company car / leased.
That said, our ICE family car is bigger and more comfortable than our EV, so that ends up being used for trips into London anyway.
survivalist said:
Weekends tend to be a bit quieter.
We always drive into London when doing stuff with the children. It’s cheaper, easier if the weather is rubbish and often a bit quicker as we’re not waiting around for trains, tubes etc
That said I used to live in zone 1 and still drive places - not having to sit next to someone with questionable personal hygiene is a big benefit.
I drive a van around the city for work often enough. But if I don't need much kit with me, train in and then Uber for the final leg. Uber is awesome now, the routing of cars is so efficient, they turn up within a couple of minutes of booking normally. Not always faster than the tube, but less hassle and less like getting on an overcrowded bus We always drive into London when doing stuff with the children. It’s cheaper, easier if the weather is rubbish and often a bit quicker as we’re not waiting around for trains, tubes etc
That said I used to live in zone 1 and still drive places - not having to sit next to someone with questionable personal hygiene is a big benefit.
The best thing about not driving is a glass of wine or two on the train on the way back out
survivalist said:
Weekends tend to be a bit quieter.
We always drive into London when doing stuff with the children. It’s cheaper, easier if the weather is rubbish and often a bit quicker as we’re not waiting around for trains, tubes etc
That said I used to live in zone 1 and still drive places - not having to sit next to someone with questionable personal hygiene is a big benefit.
We always drive into London when doing stuff with the children. It’s cheaper, easier if the weather is rubbish and often a bit quicker as we’re not waiting around for trains, tubes etc
That said I used to live in zone 1 and still drive places - not having to sit next to someone with questionable personal hygiene is a big benefit.
Night buses used to be my personal favourite.
Never a dull moment
Greenmantle said:
WTAF is this "Cleaner Vehicle Discount" BS Red Tape.
TFL already know make, model, fuel type of every vehicle in the DVLA database why do they need to have my personal details as well.
Oh yes PPM!
London Congestion Charge has been around for more than 20 years and there's been lots of iterations of the discount for less polluting cars with all kinds of rules for eligibility, as before ULEZ there was a cleaner air aspect to the CC. There's also a bunch of other discounts (resident, blue badge, breakdown services, etc) so it's just processed in the same way.TFL already know make, model, fuel type of every vehicle in the DVLA database why do they need to have my personal details as well.
Oh yes PPM!
It was decided in 2018 that as part of ULEZ being implemented the discount would be tapered off via tighter rules and removed entirely at the end of 2025, which is happening. While at the moment only battery EVs qualify that's just a temporary state, and there's no point in spending lots of money changing a bunch of systems when it's going away soon.
ULEZ is all a separate system and does indeed work automatically based on the DVLA data.
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