More than 40 organisations have written to London’s mayor urging him to rethink plans to extend the congestion charge to electric vehicles.

Ocado, the AA, and Openreach are among those supporting the Federation of Small Businesses and Cleaner Cities to keep the exemption, warning that if the charge were imposed, it would “severely impact” those who had invested in greener fleets.

Sadiq Khan’s plan is for electric vehicle drivers to lose their exemption from the congestion charge from Christmas 2025, forcing them to pay the same rate as petrol and diesel vehicles.

London’s financial paper City AM states that currently, fewer than three per cent of London’s vans are electric, and just 5.9 per cent of new vans sold last year were battery-powered.

It says the companies argue that removing the exemption will impose significant costs of up to £5,500 per vehicle annually, hurting businesses that invested in cleaner technology based on existing incentives.

(Picture – Yay Images)