If road tax is about “fairness”, scrap it for all motorcycles

The Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) has submitted its formal response to the government's Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) consultation. In it, MAG has applauded the government’s decision to exempt electric bikes from the new 3p per mile EV car and van charge - although it thinks the legislation should go further.

The changes to Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) are set to come into force in April 2028, and will see electric cars and vans charged at the rate of 3p-per-mile. And for once, the thinking behind this is actually sound. Electric cars and vans are inescapably heavy vehicles compared to petrol and even diesel-powered ones. With that extra weight comes extra wear and tear on the UK’s already crumbling roads. That leads (eventually) to an increase in road repairs and puts extra strain on local and national government finances.

MAG is, sensibly, behind the move, although it argues that motorcycles, regardless of whether they are petrol or battery-powered, already place the lowest burden on the UK’s road infrastructure - so why can’t they all be tax exempt like electric motorbikes are?

The Treasury’s justification for the new 3p-per-mile charge rests on two pillars: “fairness” and ensuring road users pay for the “wear and tear” they impose on the network. On the face of it, that’s difficult to argue with. If heavier vehicles cause more damage, it’s logical that they should contribute more towards fixing it.

And this is where MAG believes the logic of the government’s own argument begins to fall apart.

According to the Department for Transport’s own Design Manual for Roads and Bridges, the relationship between axle weight and road damage isn’t linear. It’s not a flat line running up a graph; it’s exponential. A vehicle that’s seven times heavier doesn’t cause seven times the damage. It causes thousands of times more.

MAG argues that an average car tips the scales at roughly 1,500kg, while your average motorbike comes in at around 200kg. On that basis, MAG argues that motorcycles, as a class, cause approximately 1/3000th (one three-thousandth) of the road damage inflicted by cars.

Colin Brown, Director of Campaigns & Political Engagement at Motorcycle Action Group, said:

“The government has helpfully made our case for us. By framing eVED around fairness and road damage, they've established a principle that applies to all motorcycles, not just electric ones.

“It’s simple logic. Heavier vehicles tear up roads far more than lighter ones. A motorcycle causes about as much road damage as a car driving one metre for every three kilometres the bike travels. If the government says people should pay for road wear and tear, then fairness means treating different vehicles differently.”

The key point MAG is pressing is consistency. If weight and infrastructure impact are now the guiding principles behind taxation reform, particularly as fuel duty revenues decline, then those principles should apply universally, not selectively to electric vehicles.

“The weight of a vehicle doesn't change based on what's powering it ... Whether it's electric or petrol, a motorcycle still causes virtually no road damage compared to a car. The government needs to be consistent.”

MAG’s submission also broadens the case beyond pure infrastructure wear. Motorcycles account for less than one per cent of total vehicle miles travelled in the UK. They reduce congestion, thanks to the ability to filter, cut journey times not just for riders but for drivers stuck behind fewer cars. They offer a space-efficient, lower-impact alternative for short urban trips, precisely the sort of behavioural shift policymakers claim to want.

From MAG’s perspective, the financial return from taxing motorcycles is marginal, while the administrative cost of maintaining a charging framework could prove disproportionate. If the goal is fairness based on measurable impact, then the data, at least according to the Department for Transport’s own engineering standards, suggests motorcycles sit in a category of their own.

Whether the Treasury is prepared to extend that logic beyond electric bikes is anyone’s guess. But in attempting to justify a new taxation structure on the basis of road wear and fairness, the government may have opened the door to a much broader debate about how, and whether or not, motorcycles should be taxed at all.

How can UK riders help

If MAG’s argument about fairness and proportionality carries weight with you, the group is urging riders to act now. The simplest step is to contact your local MP and ask them to write to the Treasury in support of applying the eVED exemption logic to all motorcycles, not just electric ones. You can do that in a matter of minutes, by writing to your MP and asking them to write to the Treasury in support of MAG's call to apply the eVED exemption logic to all motorcycles. You can contact your MP via the WriteToThem platform.

MAG is also asking riders to confirm they’ve made contact by emailing campaigns-coordinator@mag-uk.org, allowing the organisation to track political engagement and apply further pressure where needed. And if you want to support the wider campaign beyond this consultation, you can join the Motorcycle Action Group directly via its membership page and help keep the lobbying effort funded and visible.

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