Electric car owners ‘should be charged per-mile-driven tax as EVs damage roads more’

4857 Views 76 Replies 36 Participants Last post by donald, 7 d ago

Aleras

Discussion Starter · 9 d ago

www.autoexpress.co.uk

New pay-per-mile tax for electric cars proposed | Auto Express

A report from a right-wing ‘think tank’ aims to tackle congestion, pollution and the looming ‘black hole’ in government fuel duty revenues

www.autoexpress.co.uk

Always going to be final destination for ev pricing to replace road tax and fuel duty.

A lot of tax that will need to be replaced. We will definitely end up with a combination of telematics in every vehicle and camera's / price per mile at some point.

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Stinsy

· #2 · 9 d ago

I’d rather we tax domestic gas used for heating/cooking.

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sean1001

· #3 · 9 d ago

The report suggested a price per mile based on weight not specifically targeting EVs, so it would tax ICE cars too. A Range Rover Sport weighs 2.5 tons, so would pay more than my 1.5 ton e208 with this proposal.

I actually agree with the proposal, except that I would tax based on all forms of potential damage caused by the vehicle not just damage caused by the weight, eg including air pollution and how recyclable the vehicle it is, and therefore encourage people to use the most efficient EV or get on their bikes

I also agree - politically unlikely, though maybe if it was gradually introduced first on busy motorways as paying for motorway use is something more palatable to many - if there could be a 'locals discount'? It also sounds expensive to build.

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Coedy

· #4 · 9 d ago

Aleras said:
We will definitely end up with a combination of telematics in every vehicle and camera's / price per mile at some point.

No need, there's a magical device that tracks how far you've driven each year currently anyway and gets recorded at the mandatory MOT and is stored on a DFT database (who manage DVLA who would be able to pull and calculate owed pence per mile).
Odometer. There's no need to make it more complicated.

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Coedy

· #5 · 9 d ago

sean1001 said:
The report suggested a price per mile based on weight not specifically targeting EVs, so it would tax ICE cars too. A Range Rover Sport weighs 2.5 tons, so would pay more than my 1.5 ton e208 with this proposal.

Imagine if THIS is the thing that accidentally begins pushing lightness and efficiency development...

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Red Lake

· #6 · 9 d ago

Coedy said:
No need, there's a magical device that tracks how far you've driven each year currently anyway and gets recorded at the mandatory MOT and is stored on a DFT database (who manage DVLA who would be able to pull and calculate owed pence per mile).
Odometer. There's no need to make it more complicated.

That only works for charging for miles.

We might also want to charge for other things. For example, storing a car on any public road should have a parking charge, driving at peak times should cost extra, higher tailpipe emissions should cost more, noise should be taxed, driving a heavy vehicle over an old bridge should be charged, and so on.

An analogue meter can't do tariffs, a smart meter can. Cars need a smart meter.

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Padrino

· #7 · 9 d ago

I wouldn't mind paying IF THE MONEY goes to keep the potholes away from our roads. I've been in the UK/Scotland close to 36 years now and the roads are getting worse, year by year.

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Mark I

· #8 · 9 d ago

Taxing all vehicles according to miles and weight makes some sense, especially if the tax on fossil fuels is adjusted (down for road wear, probably up for CO₂ and other pollution). Getting the miles part of the system more or less right will be a challenge. Simple to administer, hard to cheat, fair rate including for remoter parts of the country, for congested cities, for foreign travellers - pick any two?

Peirpoint

· #9 · 9 d ago (Edited)

I strongly dissagree that EV's cause more damage due to weighing more.

Some have silly little wheels so the unsprung weight is much less than many ICE vehicles.
The additionel weight of the car if compared with a comparable ICE vehicle is more than offset by the fact that a majority of EV's are driven by us sexy slim buggers who look after ourselves and drive sensibly and usually with less people on board. Compare this to many ICE vehicles, driven around with a boot full of tools and crap and four fat bastards squeezed inside on a 50MPH "mission" to go to their local grease emporium for their fattysnax at least twice per day.

All the stuff you read about EV weight causing more damage is complete and utter piffle

An example might be debris from tyres.
My tyres on an 04 clio used to last me 6 or 8 thousand miles. My EV tyres look set to last 3 times the distance so which polute more?

Piffle I say.

Gaz

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peterboat

· #10 · 9 d ago

Coedy said:
No need, there's a magical device that tracks how far you've driven each year currently anyway and gets recorded at the mandatory MOT and is stored on a DFT database (who manage DVLA who would be able to pull and calculate owed pence per mile).
Odometer. There's no need to make it more complicated.

Really? you do know that there is a thriving trade in winding back speedos? its done via the OBD and is very effective

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Peirpoint

· #11 · 9 d ago

peterboat said:
Really? you do know that there is a thriving trade in winding back speedos? its done via the OBD and is very effective

There was also talk of making charges for certain roads free and others a little more expensive than some roads would be. Or by varying the charge by time of day.
Clearly the odometer would struggle with all of that plus clock up miles when you're drifting round the ASDA car park which isn't a road.

Gaz

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PeterJohnR

· #12 · 9 d ago

Simple answer. Pay for the roads out of general taxation. Everybody has to travel, no matter which way it is.
That should get everyone arguing about who thinks they are right with their views. 🦴
🚗🚙🚎🚌🚒🚑🛴🛵🚍⛴

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Scrooge

· #13 · 9 d ago

People volunteer/want to pay tax

Big277wave

· #14 · 9 d ago

General taxation is an option but the problem is that it would be seen as a regressive tax as the poorest tend to travel the least.

The weight thing is something that the anti EV brigade have honed in on most moderately sized battery cars weigh about 10% more than an equivalent ICE car which is full of fuel. No doubt as batteries get better the weights will become closer. The damage a 1.8 ton EV does is minimal compared to a 44 ton arctic.

As an aside, what are we going to use to pave the roads when we stop using ICE's, presumably with less refining going on the supply of bitumen will dramatically reduce.

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PeterJohnR

· #15 · 9 d ago

Big277wave said:
General taxation is an option but the problem is that it would be seen as a regressive tax as the poorest tend to travel the least.

.....and the poorest pay very little or no tax.😊

Red Lake

· #16 · 9 d ago

Scrooge said:
People volunteer/want to pay tax

Definitely want much higher taxes on bad things, such as pollution and congestion and stuff that damages health.

And lower taxes on good things such as paid employment and renewables.

The tax on petrol is one of the better taxes, as it is well-matched to carbon emissions. Problem is it is far too low, just as tax on domestic gas is too low.

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PeterJohnR

· #17 · 9 d ago

In a new report called The Future of Driving, the argument is made that road pricing is essential to tackle worsening congestion, limit the environmental harms of pollution, and find a way to replace fuel duty tax revenues that will be lost as drivers transition from petrol and diesel cars to electric power.

the argument is made that road pricing is essential to tackle worsening congestion,

So they want to force people off the roads?

A_Camera

· #18 · 9 d ago

Stinsy said:
I’d rather we tax domestic gas used for heating/cooking.

...and increase the fossil fuel tax by 100% at least...

Anyway, road tax calculated based on car (any type) weight and yearly driven distance would be fairer, plus add an environmental tax also, based on CO2.

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Zebster

· #19 · 9 d ago

I'm happy to ignore the ramblings of a right-wing think tank (which is surely an oxymoron?).

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E Geeza

· #20 · 9 d ago

PeterJohnR said:
.....and the poorest pay very little or no tax.😊

The poorest pay the highest rate of tax in proportion to income...

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