Lazy Governments. They ditched the 'emissions-led' RFL for new cars from 2017, so all are the same, as it was getting too complicated for the millions of Whitehall workers (!) to cope with. But kept the 'emissions-led' rates for anything before then. And also kept the legislation for stuff before that, which was in the days when diesel was seen to be the messiah.
I don't think you have to do that. The VED lasts for 12 months from the date of renewal, regardless of price changes. The price will only change when you renew it - which will be on its 3rd birthday or 12 months after the previous one was renewed. If you want to renew earlier, you can SORN it, renew it immediately at the Post Office or wait five days and renew online. I don't think you can tax it earlier than its 3rd birthday, but it could be worth a try if it means saving £175.
Have renewed twice now without issue, no SORN necessary but appreciate your comments. I'm only paranoid the governemnet will suddenly realise what a million+ EV owners are doing and quickly make some change to the system!...
You mean like alcohol and tobacco? Still, there's tax money to be made on them.
The SORN is only necessary if you want to move your VED date to an earlier month, although you may be able to move it to an earlier month without having to SORN. I've always done it using the SORN trick.