London Congestion Charge hiked to £18 from January and Sadiq Khan will force EV

London Mayor Sadiq Khan will increase the capital’s Congestion Charge by 20 per cent from January – and electric vehicle owners will need to cough up too for the first time in 23 years.

Drivers in Central London will be required to fork out £18 per day from 2 January 2026 when the charge rises from £15, Transport for London announced on Thursday.

It’s the first hike since 2020.

The rise means the daily cost of driving an older car in the capital – when combined with the £12.50 Ultra-Low Emission Zone charge – will amount to an eye-watering £30.50.

And someone driving into central London for 253 days – the average number of working days in a year – would find themselves paying £759 more than they were in 2025.

TfL will also scrap the charge’s 100 per cent Cleaner Vehicle Discount that has provided exemption to EVs since 2003 and instead replace it with a new tiered system in the latest snub for electric car owners.

It comes just a week after reports emerged that EV drivers could be forced to pay 3p-a-mile taxation under new plans being drawn up by the Chancellor ahead of an announcement in next week’s Autumn Budget statement.

Mayor Khan in a statement on Thursday insisted it is essential the scheme ‘stays fit for purpose’ amid a sharp rise in the number of EVs on the road. But motoring experts blasted the decision as a ‘backward step’ that could make electric car ownership less appealing.

Transport for London has confirmed that the Congestion Charge in the capital will increase by 20% to £18-a-day from 2 January 2026

100% Congestion Charge discounts for EVs will also be reduced to just 25% from the beginning of next year, meaning electric car owners need to pay £13.50 a day to enter the zone. Mayor Khan in a statement on Thursday this was to ensure the scheme ‘stays fit for purpose’ amid a sharp rise in the number of EVs on the road

From 2 January, EVs owners will be forced to pay £13.50 per day when driving into Central London with a new 25 per cent congestion charge discount applied.

However, only those registered to TfL’s Auto Pay system receive the discount.

Drivers of electric vans, HGVs and quadricycles will receive a 50 per cent concession, bringing the price down to £9 per day. 

And in a further blow, from 2030 the discounts will be reduced again to 12.5 per cent for electric cars and 25 per cent for vans, HGVs and quadricycles. 

There is also bad news for anyone hoping to move into the congestion zone – which runs from Mayfair to Tower Bridge east to west and from Euston Road in the north to Vauxhall in the south – with discounts for petrol and diesel cars scrapped for new residents.

While anyone who lives within the charging zone – and is in receipt of the Residents’ Discount prior to 1 March 2027 – will still receive their 90 per cent reduction regardless of vehicle fuel type, any new applications from residents who move into the area after 1 March 2027 will only get the 90 per cent discount if they own an EV. 

Residents with low incomes and disabled residents will still be able to apply for the Residents’ Discount irrespective of the type of vehicle they own, but only up until March 2030. 

Some 136,000 residents are estimated to live within the zone currently. 

There will also now be a new 100 per cent discount for ‘back to base’ electric car club vehicles, though on if the EV is returned to the same marked parking space within the zone. 

‘This will give residents – including those on low incomes without EV access – an option to use one for essential car journeys,’ TfL says.

Auto Express has estimated that the £3 congestion charge increase and introduction of discounted EV charges will generate between £80million and £91million extra each year for TfL coffers; a total of £415million to £455million over five years.

Howard Cox, Founder of FairFuelUK campaign group, said the 20 per cent increase to the charge is another example of the ‘anti-driver London Mayor’ waging his ‘personal war’ on motorists.

‘This cash-grabbing, way-too-powerful politician sees the motorist as an easy way to pay off his financial mismanagement of our capital city,’ Cox said.

‘London has been choked not by vehicles vital to the nation’s economy but by left wing idealistic road projects, such as low traffic neighbourhoods, huge cycle lanes, road restrictions and high parking costs.

‘Increasing the Congestion Charge will add to commercial and social decline of the once most loved city in the world and turn more tourists and sole traders away for good.’

The Zone covers approximately the area from Kings Cross in the north to Vauxhall in the south, and Paddington in the west to Whitechapel in the east. It was introduced in 2003 by Ken…