[RahulNagaraj]

The road authority of the state of Victoria in Australia has asked EV owners to send in a photograph of their car's odometer reading, starting from July 1, 2021. According to a media report, this move is part of the state's new electric vehicle road tax, which is effective from the start of the financial year.



EV owners in Victoria would be taxed 2.5 cents per kilometre from July 1. This amounts to an annual bill of AUS$ 375 for cars that travel around 15,000 km a year and AUS$ 750 for those which travel double that.

EV owners who fail to comply with the new regulation could have their vehicle's registration either cancelled or suspended, along with facing other penalties.

The media report claims that EV owners and companies are not happy with the new road tax, calling it an obstacle for increasing EV sales in the country.

The state has, however, also announced rebates of up to AUS$ 3,000 for the first 4,000 EVs. Once the number is reached, the state will review the scale of the rebate.

However, while this is good for new EV buyers, current EV owners will not only miss out on the rebate, but also be taxed for driving emission-free vehicles.

Source: TheDriven

Link to Team-BHP news

[avira_tk]

This is what you get in a police state that has an out of control welfare budget. This will soon have a gps tracking device linked to your bank account. Electric cars will take away your freedom to travel, no two ways about it. I agree with the government in this case, no need to subsidize energy costs for personal transport, you pay your share for using the infrastructure.

[DicKy]

Conspiracy theory mode ON

This was inevitable. Governments would need to find some way to recover the loss of fuel tax revenue. Easy way is to tax the usage. The government's plan for GPS based toll collection is just a way to run the tax meter when our car starts rolling. Ofcourse, there will be some economists and urbanists championing the cause for 'pay while you use' or do anything to tax the evil personal automobile

EVs just facilitate it more easily. Funny how many BEV enthusiasts would proclaim they got energy freedom and are no longer tied to evil oil corporations, while the governments are waiting to tax every metre they are going to travel

Conspiracy theory mode OFF.

[TrackDay]

This is before EV has gone mainstream ! Have to wonder what different ways a consumer will be fleeced once he has no more option of an ICE car. This looks like shooting in the foot while encouraging the general population to go electric. What scares me is what will happen once EVs go mainstream on our shores. At this rate, they would skip the photograph phase and directly get the data from our cars.

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by DicKy

Conspiracy theory mode ON

This was inevitable. Governments would need to find some way to recover the loss of fuel tax revenue. Easy way is to tax the usage. The government's plan for GPS based toll collection is just a way to run the tax meter when our car starts rolling. Ofcourse, there will be some economists and urbanists championing the cause for 'pay while you use' or do anything to tax the evil personal automobile

It is inevitable, the question is when is the right time? Only .5% of new car sales in Australia are electric vehicles and most electric car owners that I know also have solar panels installed. So not only are they reducing the CO2 emissions, they are also strengthening the grid. The tax collected this way would be miniscule, relatively speaking, and is incredibly short sighted of the government, in supposedly the most progressive state in Australia. Victorian government I am sure spends more subsidising LED lights, which you can get replaced for free for your home if they arent LED already.

Originally Posted by DicKy

EVs just facilitate it more easily. Funny how many BEV enthusiasts would proclaim they got energy freedom and are no longer tied to evil oil corporations, while the governments are waiting to tax every metre they are going to travel
Conspiracy theory mode OFF.

Not sure what you meant by facilitating it more easily? The tax is also applicable to PHEV's but they are charged 2 cents a kilometre instead of 2.5

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Not sure what you meant by facilitating it more easily?

Should have worded it more carefully.

Sure, even the most basic ICE vehicle could be made to be always under surveillance or have its data recorded. But it's a fact that EV vehicles have more connected features, especially by design. What with the data being transferred real time or the OTA updates. We have seen the manufacturer removing features from a car since the current owner bought it used instead of directly paying the company. Or removing features since their collected data showed people were not using it much.

Calculating tax based on mileage is straightforward. But then again, the customary sitting in the car listening to music after a long commute back to home could be also charged since you are technically using the car even if a wheel is not turned.

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

The tax is also applicable to PHEV's but they are charged 2 cents a kilometre instead of 2.5

[SKC-auto]

Originally Posted by DicKy

What with the data being transferred real time or the OTA updates. We have seen the manufacturer removing features from a car since the current owner bought it used instead of directly paying the company. Or removing features since their collected data showed people were not using it much.

That's because Tesla makes only EVs, I guess E2o does not have any of those connected features. ICE cars can also have "Internet Inside".

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by DicKy

Should have worded it more carefully.

Sure, even the most basic ICE vehicle could be made to be always under surveillance or have its data recorded. But it's a fact that EV vehicles have more connected features, especially by design. What with the data being transferred real time or the OTA updates. We have seen the manufacturer removing features from a car since the current owner bought it used instead of directly paying the company. Or removing features since their collected data showed people were not using it much.

I beg to disagree. Tesla isnt the government and they arent the one taxing people. It has got nothing to do with whether it is an electric car or an ICE car, connected or otherwise.

[SKC-auto]

Australian High Court reverses ‘world’s worst EV policy’

The Australian High Court has reversed a tax on EVs levied by the Victorian state government, which was hailed as the “worst EV policy in the world” as it taxed EVs and not gas-powered vehicles.

In Australia, gasoline taxes are collected by the federal government, not by state governments. So Victoria does not collect any tax on gasoline, and therefore one cannot say that their implementation of an EV tax had anything to do with mandating equal treatment.

Two EV owners made this argument in court, stating that the Victorian government is not allowed to impose an excise tax, as that is the purview of the Australian federal government only. The Australian federal attorney general (and, for some reason, the Australian Trucking Association) agreed with the EV owners, while other Australian state attorneys general sided with Victoria in the lawsuit.

And today, the Australian High Court agreed with the EV owners, and struck down Victoria’s EV tax.

The ruling would likely stop other Australian states from implementing similar taxes, and if they did want to find a way to tax EVs specifically, they will at least need to go back to the drawing board and find a different way (perhaps, as we have suggested many times before, they could move to a scheme that taxes all vehicles based on weight, mileage, and air pollution, so that the societal costs of every vehicle are properly accounted for).

https://electrek.co/2023/10/17/austr...rst-ev-policy/