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Rachel Reeves has one set of drivers directly in her sights. Electric car owners must now feel like clowns. At one stage, road tax incentives were once seen as one of the biggest benefits of owning electric vehicles, as discounts and freebies were thrown around like confetti.

EV owners enjoyed no Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) car tax fees, as petrol and diesel drivers splashed out hundreds. It all sounded too good to be true. And it turns out it was. Are EV owners now having buyer's remorse? Rachel Reeves turned off the EV freebie tap last year as electric models registered after 2017 were told to pay for the standard rate of £195 for the first time.

A year later, and Reeves hasn't given it a rest, with standard VED fees for all cars, including electric models, now at £200 per year. Last April, brand new EVs with a list price of over £40,000 (Almost all the good ones) were subjected to the Expensive Car Supplement add-on for the first time. Another slap in the teeth.

The ECS fee now stands at £440 per year, but over the five years when charges apply, drivers are coughing up £2,200 to stay on the roads. This wouldn't have been in the sales leaflet when road users picked up their EVs a couple of years back.

Reeves realised the error of her ways and adjusted the numbers, with EVs valued at over £50,000 now only paying the rates. Sounds good, right? It's better. But is it far enough?

ECS fees are calculated on the list price and not the base model value, meaning add-ons and extras aren't included. This means many families will pay the charge anyway. Another nightmare. Then comes the final nail in the coffin. From 2028, EV owners will all be charged under a brand new 3p per mile road pricing system. Pay-per-mile is here.

Those travelling the average of around 10,000 miles every 12 months will cough up £300. Meanwhile, those commuting to work and hitting closer to 15,000 miles will pay £450. That's well over double the current £200 VED standard rate paid by EV owners now. Is this another Labour' money grab?

As more drivers make the switch to EVs, attention will turn to how Labour and Reeves can suck motoring taxes out of drivers to offset the loss of petrol and diesel revenues.

This is by no means the end and I fully expect the era of EV tax hikes is not over yet. Reeves is plotting her next move, and it could be deadly.