National Highways paid £84k 'Tesla tax'
Cabinet Office distances itself from road agency's decision to pay £6k extra per car
Hello, I’m Tom Riley, and welcome back to The Fast Charge, a British EV newsletter.
Top story in today’s edition... I can reveal that National Highways paid an £84,000 premium to a ‘middleman’ so it could keep buying Tesla Model Ys for its fleet – after it learned the US carmaker ceased to be an official government supplier.
Elsewhere… It’s Global Women in EV Day next Tuesday, will China build cars in Blighty, and 75% of councils feel hampered on EV charging by their budgets.
Finally, before we get into it. A friendly heads up to all charging networks... Many of the Public Charge Point Regulations are now in force, and I’ve been a bit surprised that so many networks haven’t yet met all their legal requirements (after several years of prep time). I’m not covering today, but I will be on w/c 16 February.
As ever, if you have any comments or feedback, please reply to this email or message me on LinkedIn.
🚨 Revealed: National Highways paid an £84k premium to keep buying Teslas for its fleet
Summary: National Highways, the public body responsible for the UK’s motorways and A roads, paid an £84,000 premium to buy 14 Tesla Model Ys through an intermediary, as the US carmaker was no longer on any official government procurement frameworks.
Details... Figures obtained by The Fast Charge, via a Freedom of Information request, have revealed that the government-owned agency paid approximately £6,000 more per vehicle after Tesla ceased to be a government-approved supplier. Rather than switching to a brand on the vetted list, National Highways used a third-party conversion specialist to source the cars, resulting in a 12.5% price hike for the taxpayer.
👉 National Highways has not disputed these figures. They have also confirmed the use of a third party to procure Tesla cars for its traffic officer fleet.
Let’s dive in at the beginning...
Background... Over Christmas, probably like many of you, I spent a lot of time on the motorway. And, on a journey back to London, as the horizontal sunshine finally dipped behind a tree, I was able to make out a Tesla Model Y in National Highways colours. It was a traffic officer vehicle, and it was the first I’d seen.
When I got back to London, I decided to do some digging online. What I found is that, like many large public fleets, such as police forces, National Highways had been testing EVs for several years. And it seemed apparent that National Highways was really taken in by the Tesla Model Y. I have found several videos of National Highways at events showcasing a demonstrator Tesla, fitted with orange lights and telematics equipment. See here, here, and here.
In the year 2024/25... National Highways went on to procure 24 Model Ys directly from Tesla, which were then listed with the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) – which is the government’s official shop, designed to ensure public bodies buy from vetted suppliers at competitive prices. The total cost for these 24 vehicles, including their conversion to the National Highways specification, came to a total cost of £1,159,798. That works out at an average of £48,324 per car.
However... In April 2025, Tesla decided public procurement wasn’t a priority for them, so they removed themselves as a supplier. Before that point, it’s believed Tesla had been on the CCS framework since 2022, alongside numerous other carmakers, including Audi, Ford, Hyundai, KIA, Nissan, Skoda, VW, and Volvo.
This left National Highways in a sticky situation. They had already conducted a 12-month trial using the Model Y. They had bought 24 for their new electric fleet. And with them now exiting the CCS Framework, that would mean going back to the drawing board and finding another carmaker that was approved.
Well, that didn’t happen. Determined to keep growing its fleet of Model Ys, National Highways took a different approach. As they couldn’t get the cars directly from Tesla, they instead turned to their vehicle conversion supplier, Halls Electrical, to buy vehicles from Tesla on their behalf. Effectively using them as a middleman.
In National Highways’ own words ...
“During the 2024/25 tax year National Highways purchased 24 vehicles direct through Tesla. A further 14 vehicles were purchased during the 2025/26 tax year. As Tesla is no longer recognised on any procurement frameworks the vehicles were purchased through Halls Electrical.” — From FOI (Pictured below)
Halls Electrical is a listed vendor on the CCS framework. They are registered on the list for converters of ‘Bespoke and Specialist Vehicles’. While procuring vehicles this way is permitted under framework rules, as Halls Electrical has no formal arrangement with Tesla, and is understood to simply be a customer who takes delivery of cars, it’s likely they were bought closer to or at retail prices. This would explain why these 14 vehicles, including their conversion, cost National Highways £761,000. Aka... £54,366 per car compared to the previous £48,324.
In short... National Highways paid an extra £84,000 to get a car from a company that has chosen to sit outside the official government framework.
This is serious. Public procurement in the UK is governed by the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, the Procurement Act 2023, and Treasury guidance under Managing Public Money, which require public bodies to maintain fair competition and demonstrate value for money. While public bodies are permitted to pay more where justified, they have a statutory duty to evidence that spending decisions represent value for money for taxpayers.
In response...
National Highways has not refuted the maths. They argue that they assess value for money on a whole-life operational cost basis, not unit purchase price alone. Likewise, they refer to their 12-month trial with the Model Y as evidence for testing value for money. National Highways also argued that a market assessment established that no equivalent EV meeting its specification for traffic officer vehicles was available via the CCS framework at the time of procurement.
I asked to see the market assessment. Based on the contract awarded to Tesla in 2024, which is public record, the vehicle requirements were quite standard. The additional specification – e.g., adding lights and telematics – is done by a conversion company (aka, Halls Electrical), not the carmaker. This raises questions about whether alternative EVs could have met operational requirements had the market been asked.
Commenting on this story, a National Highways spokesperson said:
“Safety is our number one priority and we operate with a mixed fleet of traffic officer vehicles to ensure we can maintain the highest levels of safety on our roads at all times.
“As part of our transition to a zero-emission fleet, a contract for the purchase of Tesla Model Y was awarded in December 2024 through the Crown Commercial Service purchasing framework.
“Tesla withdrew from the Crown Commercial Service purchasing framework in April 2025, therefore we have no ongoing direct contract with them. However, Tesla vehicles remain available to order via third-party suppliers who are part of the framework.”
Elsewhere…
An industry source confirmed to The Fast Charge that Tesla came off the CCS framework last year and that it has no agreement with Halls Electrical.
The Cabinet Office, which oversees the Crown Commercial Service, declined to comment. Although a source seemed to distance the department from National Highways, stating that decisions on who to award contracts to are made by individual public bodies. The source added that public sector customers are free to choose any compliant route to market and supplier that meets their needs.
I asked Halls Electrical if National Highways had contracted them specifically to buy Tesla vehicles and if they added a markup on them. My comment request was forwarded to the highways agency’s national fleet manager. Halls Electrical itself declined to comment.
At the time of publishing, National Highways have not responded to my request for the market assessment. So… I’ve called on my old chum, Mr FOI, to get a copy.
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