1y ago

EVs, plug-in hybrids to pay road user charges from 1 April

www.rnz.co.nz EVs, plug-in hybrids to pay road user charges from 1 April

Owners of light electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids will have to pay road user charges from 1 April, the government has announced.

A few surprises here, namely that PHEVs will pay a lower rate of RUCs, I was under the impression there would be a rebate scheme for petrol purchased.

No revisions to the weight brackets, which I imagine will be necessary before all vehicles eventually go to RUCs.

27 comments

If they wanted to get really 'equitable' on road users paying the cost of the roads they use they could commit to tolling the white elephant motorways they're planning on building.
- Given petrol tax and RUC are user pays, as in the more you use roads the more you pay, what would the benefit of toll roads be?
- Most motorways are actually cost positive as far as maintenance is concerned, due to the relatively low maintenance cost relative to the amount of traffic they serve.
  Out of curiosity, which projects do you think will be "white elephants"?
  
  All of them. They will increase sprawl, increase emissions and make congestion worse in cities.

If only there was an app that can change my leafs odometer....
- Wouldn't you run into issues if you went to sell it though? I guess if you were planning to run it into the ground it wouldn't matter
  
  I guess you change the odometer less than you use it, so it looks like you've only done 1,000km in the last year when actually you've done 10,000?
  I wonder if the new speed cameras that record your number plate could be used to check for odo changes? Like if they know you drove through that 10km (or whatever) zone twice a day every day, they would (or at least could) know that you've driven 5,000km over the 250 working days so they could tag you for closer inspection or something?
- Not like the good old days when you could just reach behind the dash and disconnect the speedometer.

EVs absolutely need to pay RUC and contribute to roading in NZ, but the way they've implemented it is half baked and stupid (as expected).
For each 100km driven, a Toyota Prius pays $2.58 into the National Transport Fund via petrol excise tax (at 3.4 litres per 100km), and a Nissan Leaf will be paying $7.60 via Road User Charges.
Do we want to decarbonise the vehicle fleet or not? Because charging clean vehicles almost 3x what their fossil powered peers pay seems a strange way to go about it.
Either the Prius should be paying more, or the Leaf less to make this equitable.
- This is precisely why the plan is to eventually go RUCs for all.
  Although a Prius is a very clean vehicle itself, and encouraging people to use more efficient vehicles in general is a good thing.
  
  One of the benefits of excise tax is it rewards lower polluting vehicles with fewer fees.
  However they end up doing it (emissions tax, tiered RUC?), I hope this incentive remains. But considering that'd essentially be a 'ute tax' on running costs I can't see this government doing it.

I don't know why they don't change it to RUC for every vehicle; get rid of the variable of fuel usage.
If you drive an older car that gets 10l/100km, you pay at least twice the road tax as someone that drives a modern hybrid that is in the 4-6l/100km range. So the road tax is favoring those that can already afford to buy a modern efficient car.
- That was a campaign promise, and is part of the coalition agreement between National and Act, as far as I know.
  There have been discussions around an E RUC system, which I hope comes through. The existing systems are aimed at companies rather than individuals, and buying RUCs is a pain in the ass.
  
  It isn't too bad; I buy online and the ticket comes in the mail. It could be better (much better) but it isn't too bad.
  I see the big issue being the minimum weight of 3.5T; if I'm driving a 1200kg carolla, it is a bit rich saying I'm doing the same damage as a ute / light truck / big van.
  If/when the eRUC system gets implemented, there are going to have to be a lot more categories.
  up to 500kg (motorbikes etc...)
  500 - 1000kg (ki cars)
  1000 - 1500kg (small city cars)
  1500 - 2500kg (medium cars)
  2500 - 3500kg ( large cars / suv etc..)

The rebate scheme for PHEVs would make more sense, as the amount of petrol they need can vary wildly depending on the battery size and average trip distance.
I wonder if you add a generator to your EV to make it into a PHEV, do you then pay less RUCs?
- I can absolutely see why they went with a lower rate of RUCs though, what they were proposing would have been a nightmare to administer, and a pain in the ass for owners.

About fucking time too!

27 comments