An EV road user charge is looming. Could it slam the brakes on Australia’s clean car transition? | Electric vehicles

When a driver puts 10 liters of fuel in their cars, they pay about 5 dollars to the federal government.

Of course, unless you use an electric vehicle. No gasoline or diesel means that the government has lost 51C per liter.

In recent years, the Productivity Commission has called for reforms on how to increase the income from vehicles, and the Albanian government has given sounds to the houses that a way a user fee can be given.

After the government’s economic reform round table meeting this week, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said, “There is too much conceptual support for road user charging”, but the details of the fee and which tools will be included.

State treasures will discuss the concept when they meet next month.

According to the Electric Vehicle Council, approximately 298,000 battery electric vehicles and 81,000 add -on hybrid have been sold in Australia. As this number rises – Home sales were 13% of new automobile sales in the last quarterThe highest rate in the registration – they still make up less than 2% 21.7m Vehicles on the road.

“We are in a stage that adopts far behind the adoption rates of the adoption rates of other advanced economies, Prof said Prof Matt Burke, a transport expert and host from Griffith University.

Authorized, policy experts and automobile clubs between a way to the user’s fee “a common agreement” and “willing coalition,” he said.

But what he seems is still ready to argue. And some are worried that bringing a very early accusation may affect the purchase of homes.

Burke said that governments could decide a fixed fee for home users, or that they could decide on how long the vehicles could take a allowance for the weight of the vehicle.

“Electric vehicles are not contaminated in the same way as other vehicles, but a little heavier and disrupts the road surface a little more, or he says.

Where does consumption go

But what is the fuel consumption used for actually?

“People think fuel consumption is paying for roads, but not,” says Alison Reeve, Director of Grattan Institute of Energy and Climate Program.

According to the Parliamentary Budget Office, less than 6% of the government’s fuel consumption collected is a special account for states and regions where they can spend on the road infrastructure.

Fuel consumption is not known as “default tax – – that is, a tax in which income expenditures are directed to a particular issue such as roads.

“[Fuel excise] It has not been assumed since 1992. But people still think they work like that, Reve says Reeve.

Falling income

The government’s income from fuel consumption is definitely decreasing, but not really because of the homes.

From a summit in the 1980s, the amount of fuel consumption as a percentage of government revenue fell from approximately 11% to 4%, largely increased fuel efficiency.

The average passenger vehicle in Australia burned 11.3 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers in 2005. Now it only burns 6.9 liters and is likely to fall further with new productivity standards for new vehicles.

A future dominated by electric cars would see a dramatic decrease in fuel consumption. Currently, the government, mostly in mining areas – and heavy vehicles for the fuel burned from partial discounts, after giving full discounts for about $ 15 billion remained from the tax.

It will be a good argument that the amount of tax collected to drive a vehicle should reflect the cost of the health effects of cars working in fossil fuels and the cost of the thousands of early deaths caused by breathing in particles every year. There is also damage accumulated to the climate from the release of greenhouse gases.

However, Reeve says that the amount of consumption collected by the government is ğı a number that the government only thinks that it can escape ”.

The right policy, the wrong time?

Aman Gaur, the President of the Electric Vehicle Council’s legal, policy and advocacy, says that a way a user fee will be “real”, but not only by the homes, but not all vehicles.

The Council represents automobile companies that produce and sell electric cars and say that home drivers should be exempt from a fee until 30% of new vehicle sales are electric.

“It will be inefficient to hit home drivers, Ga says Gaur, Gaur says. “We support an accusation for any kind of vehicle. We do not want to see a model that multiplies breaks in our transition to a clean transport economy.”

The new Southern South Wales government proposed the user fee that could be introduced in mid -2017 if there is no federal plan. The recommended fee will be 2.97 cents per kilometer for a house and an add -on is 2.37C for hybrid.

A home driver who makes 10,000 km expects to pay $ 300 within the scope of the proposed plan. New cars sold in Australia use 6.9 liters of fuel per 100km. The driver of a new gasoline car, which makes the same distance, pays about $ 352 in fuel consumption.

“Paying $ 300 for a home enthusiast may not be the end of the world, but we should think of an average person who wants to buy a house for these people, this may be a difference of $ 300 [of them buying the car]”Gaur says.

However, Burke, a general way, has other advantages of the user fee. A government can give a discount or incorporating occlusion for some people, such as retirees or unemployed.

A big question will be whether the income from the user fee will enter the government’s overall chests or whether it will be ringleged. Australian Automobile Association suggested that the income from the road user fees on the houses should enter the transport infrastructure, including creating more charging stations.

Helen Rowe, Transportation Institution at ClimateWorks Center, said, “If it is well designed, [a road user charge] It can do much more than wearing an income gap.

“It can help reduce congestion, reduce emissions, reduce infrastructure costs and increase the overall efficiency of Australia’s transportation network.”