Road Tax on EV's

Petriix

People are so unimaginative. Charging per mile for private motoring is a terrible idea. There are far better targets for taxation. The whole system should be reworked to make it more progressive. 

Herzlos

Norman_Castle said:

MouldyOldDough said:

How much will this be and will they simply class all EVs in one group or by cost price ?

The government failed to think this through fully

VED was set at zero to encourage people to buy them which has worked. As VED is based on emissions and electric vehicles have none charging per mile seems fair although charging based on size or weight could be an option. Smaller cars use less road space when parked and reduce congestion queue sizes, lighter vehicles cause less damage to roads.

I think vehicle size isn't that viable since there isn't really that much variance in them. Most are in the 4-4.5m length range.

Road damage increases exponentially with weight per wheel, so it'd make some sense to have the weight have some impact on the VED. A 3500kg SUV will do much more damage to road surfaces than a 1200kg supermini.

Thrugelmir

Petriix said:

People are so unimaginative. Charging per mile for private motoring is a terrible idea. There are far better targets for taxation. The whole system should be reworked to make it more progressive. 

Charging for use of public roads seems progressive. Building EV's isn't green in itself. 

Flight3287462

Currently Fuel Duty is 58p, you then pay VAT of 20% on the whole and then you pay VED.

All that (at least) will need to recouped from somewhere and if you are driving say an average 12,000 miles a year @ 35mpg then you already pay £900 fuel duty, plus around £500 in VAT plus eg £100 in VED so the government needs to recoup around £1,500 per average motorist.

That is back of the fag packet and very rough and there are a number of variables but it has to be in that sort of order of >£1k (on average).

Car_54

What is the logic behind recouping the tax shortfall from motorists, rather than the general population, or some other random subset of it?

Apart of course from “We’ve always done it that way”.

Herzlos

Car_54 said:

What is the logic behind recouping the tax shortfall from motorists, rather than the general population, or some other random subset of it?

Apart of course from “We’ve always done it that way”.

They need to get it from somewhere, and people need cars so will pay up.

Herzlos

Thrugelmir said:

 Building EV's isn't green in itself. 

Nothing is particularly green, but EV's result in cleaner air where the car is, and most of the nasties of manufacture can be done somewhere else.

The greenest approaches are trains / trams / trolley busses with overhead power (so no batteries) or bicycles, but given that'll never happen, cities air quality will be hugely improved by replacing combustion cars with electric.

MouldyOldDough

legionare64 said:

They may road tax EVs sometime in the future but all that are already on the road will be free same as all the free and cheap tax petrol and diesels from pre April 2017. If they were to want more revenue they would increase tax on these, but they have to stay in bands from when they were new just like the crazy priced big petrols frpm early 2000's

They are seriously considering "pay per mile "- with disabled being given a certain number of free miles - rather than free RT

But why should disabled - be limited to X,0000 miles per year free ?

That's like saying that disabled drivers only drive occasionally.....

How would this work on old bangers (cars) - retro-fitting ?

This would affect/hit ALL cars - including previously free (of RT) EV's

And what about rural areas with no public transport / options ?

What would the rate per mile likely be ?

Bonniepurple

Herzlos said:

Thrugelmir said:

 Building EV's isn't green in itself. 

Nothing is particularly green, but EV's result in cleaner air where the car is, and most of the nasties of manufacture can be done somewhere else.

The greenest approaches are trains / trams / trolley busses with overhead power (so no batteries) or bicycles, but given that'll never happen, cities air quality will be hugely improved by replacing combustion cars with electric.

And that is the key issue that I have with EVs.  It does feel like it’s an “out of sight, out of mind” type thing.  I’d love to know how much overall environmental damage the production and manufacture of EVs does.  They may well be less polluting in terms of nitrous oxides and carbon dioxide, but they are not as “green” as people would like to think.

I have nothing against EVs, I just object to the common perception that they are completely environmentally friendly!

Herzlos

MouldyOldDough said:

legionare64 said:

They may road tax EVs sometime in the future but all that are already on the road will be free same as all the free and cheap tax petrol and diesels from pre April 2017. If they were to want more revenue they would increase tax on these, but they have to stay in bands from when they were new just like the crazy priced big petrols frpm early 2000's

They are seriously considering "pay per mile "- with disabled being given a certain number of free miles - rather than free RT

But why should disabled - be limited to X,0000 miles per year free ?

That's like saying that disabled drivers only drive occasionally.....

I think the idea is that disabled people need the cars due to mobility issues (otherwise they wouldn't have the motability car), whereas everyone else is encouraged to use alternative transport.

Of course, motability cars are VED exempt, anyway. But they do still pay fuel. I'd be fine with them being completely tax free as long as there was some sort of mechanism to avoid !!!!!! taking by people who are using a mobility car outwith the benefit of the disabled keeper.