Electric/Hybrid Congestion Charge
With the amount of Electric and Hybrid short-term lease cars going out the door, we thought it would be a good idea to inform our customers of the rules behind driving in London and congestion charging.
What is a Congestion Charge?
The congestion charge was launched in 2003, it was designed to deter drivers from driving in the capital and push them more towards commuting and utilising the tube and bus service.
Up until March 2020, the congestion charge was applied on a weekday between 7am and 6pm, when entering into the zone, which is signposted with a red background and a white “C” stating congestion charging zone.
From the 22nd June, the daily charge increased and the operating hours of the charge extended to 7 days a week between the hours of 7am and 10pm.
Exempt Vehicles
As technology in vehicles has improved and the need to reduce emissions has gone on, vehicles now have to emit no more than 75 g/km of CO2 to be exempt from the London Congestion Charge.
There aren’t many vehicles in the marketplace that fall into this category, even some “Self-Charging” Hybrids don’t qualify. However, there is a handful of plug-in hybrids (PHEV) and fully electric vehicles (BEV) such as the BMW i3 and the Tesla Model 3 that do.
It has been set out that from October 2021, only zero-emission electric cars will be exempt from paying.
You need to register
What many forget or don’t realise, is that by driving a plug-in hybrid or fully electric car into the congestion charge, you do need to register for an exemption.
This is a pretty straightforward process and can be done on the Discounts section of the Transport for London website, we’ve included the link.
If you don’t register, you could still receive a fine of at least £80.00 and Transport for London does not generally allow appeals on Congestion Charges.
Examples of Exempt Vehicles
Here is a list of cars exempt from the Congestion Charge (Correct at the time of writing 17th September 2020):
- Renault ZOE
- Nissan Leaf
- Volkwagen e-Golf
- Tesla Model 3
- Tesla Model S
- Tesla Model X
- Audi E-Tron
- Mercedes EQC
More Information
If you would like more information about vehicles on our short-term car lease or car subscription service that are exempt from the London Congestion Charge, please get in touch with the team using the form below or by calling us on 01332 290173
