-
My used car: £1750, cheap to fix and run. £130 VED
A non VED vehicle: Costs a lot more to buy and fix
Sometimes being "greener" isn't economically more attractive.
This is obv. pure anecdotal but there are reasons people still use "old bangers".Li-ion batteries also cost a shitload of CO2 to make and don't last, but that CO2 is generated elsewhere and therefore not calculated in the VED and the buyer does not contribute.
A new car also costs CO2 to make, and there's a tipping point in CO2 emissions/age of car/miles per year at which a new car may reduce pollution (I am talking petrol here, I don't know about diesel particulates) which is all not calculated in the VED
TL:DR it's not as simple as "it's more damaging, you pay more".
But an electric car that is charged on renewables only with a battery that used common materials (zinc air maybe? that's in production atm but not yet in cars) may really be a way forward. If you can afford it ;)
JWestland-
I get that the whole topic is more complicated.
But this additional levy is pretty simple. It is about protecting the health of people in London due to a specific pollution problem that has not been met.
The argument about the poor is weak imo. 2mins on auto trader....
2007
50k
MPV
1.6l petrol
<£400
autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201608297245816?tech=1The real cost of a car is the running cost; fuel, insurance, servicing, etc.
Also marcom, if poor people have to clean rich peoples' toilets that is a situation that exists independent to an emissions charge. While I don't have the data, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's unlikely that the cleaner of a Bugatti owner in London is going to be driving to work.
hugo7
It isn't about driving or not driving. It's about the emissions of the vehicle. If you have a "lower" emissions vehicle (anything older than 2007 I think) then you're not charged.
If you have a classic car that, is exempt.
We had a similar discussion in the motorbike thread. I still can't understand what Marvin's issue with encouraging the use of less polluting vehicles is.
Of course you can make arguments for not using cars, but this isn't even about that. It's just saying if you want to choose a car that costs society more and contributes more to damaging people's health and shortening their lives then you need to make a contribution for that choice.