Electric car thread

[old man emu]

3 hours ago, nomadpete said:

pay per kilometre would be fair. 

An accounting nightmare. How would the rate per km be determined? The one determinate would be the mass of the vehicle since the amount of damage a vehicle does to a road surface is dependent on the vehicle's mass. But then, what about money for the upkeep of signalling devices, signage, lane marking etc? 

 

The problem is in determining how the GST revenue is distributed. If yoiu are interested, here's a link to a document about it:

 https://www.cgc.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-11/research_paper_no_2_-_why_states_get_different_shares_of_gst_0.pdf

[Jerry_Atrick]

7 hours ago, nomadpete said:

The fuel excise is long overdue for scrapping. The tax system needs revision.

 

Modern technology should be capable of automated reporting of vehicle use.

pay per kilometre would be fair. 

 

I agree with most of the above, except if we are to do a tax that takes into account a vehicle tax of the damage done that has to be repaired, then the cost per k would vary per vehicle or attributes of vehicles. And it isn't that simple. Although redicing, the emissions of manufacturing EVs is higher than ICE cars thanks to that battery, and although it has been rediuved from an average of 5 years on normal driving conditions/mileage to 3 years, that is the time, on average that the emissions for whole of life are in balance, after which EV emissions for whole of life drop. Then there is excess weight that damages the roads. But, despite how far emissions controls have come, ICE engines will always spew out toxins/poisons that have an effect on the health of the population and increase health costs, etc etc etc. So coming up with a truly fair formula is very difficult. 

 

In the UK, ICE vehicles (outside od trucks/commercial vehicles over a certain weight) are taxed (rego fees)  according to their emissions. Pre 2017 HSV Commodores (known here as VXR8s) will be sligged at £720/year. My XC90 is about £400/year. The mini was £260 year. EVs up until the end of this financial year (April 5th in the UK), are zero. The government which is both broke and buying votes at the same time, decided a change so cars post 2017 such as a VXR8 (if there are any) will only pay a higher tax for the first five years of their life, which will equate to something like £700, after which it will reduce to around £245/year. That doesn't seem like a goverment using tax to affect behaviour to meet net zero (but they seem to be more unpopular than the previous Conservative government). 

 

EVs road tax went from zero to £10/year this financial year. Next financial year, there will be two tiering of road tax. Those over a certain value will be treated as luxury cars and attain the same tax as an old VXR8. I think the value os over £40k. Those under will be subject to a 3p per mile tax for BEVs and 1.5 p per mile tax for hybrids (in the basis, they will consume petrol/diesel for hald of their journey over the year). At an average of 10,000 miles per year, the road tax is said to average for EVs of £300 and £150 for hybrids. The justification for this is domestic electiricy use is VAT free. 

 

3 hours ago, old man emu said:

How would the rate per km be determined?

They estimated the average distanc per car travelled, the average rate of tax paid, and divided the average rate of tax paid by the average miles per car.. 

 

The will work by estimating your annual mileage. When a car is sold, or when it has its annual MOT (RWC), the mileage is already recorded; if they are close, there will be no adjustment; if they are materially different, there will be an adjustment either way - a credit for the next year's tax or you add the difference to the next years' tax. TNote, for the first three years from new, you don't need to get a MOT, so you can submit your mileage or wait to you sell, have your first MOT, whichever comes first, and then you will be slugged or receive a credit. 

 

They will eventually roll out the tech to record the mileage - dog knows there are enough camerals already around the place - it would be a matter of a software update I would guess.