When will they start charging RUC for electric cars?

floydbloke:

When will they start charging RUC for electric cars?

Short answer:

When EV's make up 2% of the Light vehicle fleet.

Long answer.

RUC's are payable on all cars where unless their fuel is taxed at source (Only Petrol and LPG are, so every other fuel source needs RUC's). Electric cars have been granted a temporary exemption to encourage uptake.

I think this is quite justified given the benefits to the country of electric cars. (i.e. local air quality, assisting with meeting paris agreement targets, using NZ generated electricity rather than sending our wealth to oil producing nations). Also it avoids issues of double taxation on plug in hybrids. Prior to the exemption (if any such cars were on the market), plug in hybrids owners would have had to pay both RUC's and Petrol tax when running on petrol.

The current exemption expires on the 31 December 2021. And is part of the following:

The Government’s package includes:

A target of doubling the number of electric vehicles in New Zealand every year to reach approximately 64,000 by 2021
Extending the Road User Charges exemption on light electric vehicles until they make up two percent of the light vehicle fleet
A new Road User Charges exemption for heavy electric vehicles until they make up two percent of the heavy vehicle fleet

It is great that the government has given relative certainty of its stance on this for the next few years, so people can make informed financial decisions

While there are relatively low numbers of electric cars on the road, the lost income tax income is minor. I think the idea is to promote electric vehicles (EV's) now, allowing infrastructure to be built, and getting the public use to the idea of electric cars. Once the ball has got rolling, the tax exemption will be withdrawn, and electric vehicles will need to stand on their own merits.

By international (first world) standards, our electric vehicle incentives are considered very low. Note that countries like the USA, UK, Japan and much of europe have subsidies towards the purchase of electric vehicles in the area of NZD 10,000. Obviously our government assistance pale in comparison, and as such our electric vehicle uptake is much lower than these countries. Most of our EV's are used imports from countries with subsidies

Regarding RUC's, these need to be reconsidered prior to reintroduction on electric cars. Current policy strongly favors Petrol as a fuel for small/economical vehicles, and Diesel for large vans, utes etc. If current RUC policy remains, the likes of the toyota prius would pay far less road tax than a Nissan Leaf, the opposite of what we want to incentivise. Also we would need to resolve the plug in hybrid double taxation issue.

Regarding electricity supply, this isn't much of an issue. EV growth is predicted to be so slow that it is unlikely to have a rapid impact. Lines companies build cost of upgrades into their pricing structure, so this will be paid for as per normal. If anything EV's could be increase utilisation factor on local lines by shifting power use to the cheaper off peak window. Regarding fast charging installations, these would be charged lines fee's just like a small factory or something with similar electrical demand. These fees (as per in industrial settings) are set to cover the cost of providing the capacity to that location.

Lastman

Scott3