Electric Vehicles EVs

100%

My comment earlier on not helpful was the fact that a wholesale change on car usage, of which I’m not exactly a saint, is generations away and EVs are/were a good stop gap on the way and this will I think anyway set that back.

You’re right, absolutely. However, look at the VED system. We have old diesel cars that fall into (at the time brackets of) £0 & £30 brackets, which were used to incentivise usage, these remain. Petrol cars that have £30 VED those remain. My Mums little 1.6 Fabia will now be cheaper than an EV in VED. An old smoker (classic) will remain VED free and emission zone exempt.

Overhaul the system by all means, but if retrospective action is what is required, try to target cars with higher emissions. I know what I’d prefer idling outside my Daughters school gates.

We need some sort of system. Especially if petrol cars are banned from 2030 or whatever the current plan is. Just typically ridiculous that they are putting it off to the next parliament

The only sensible answer is road pricing. Black box in every car that reports where and when you drive. Cameras and crushing to catch people that disable the black box.

Maybe some civil liberties problems with that scheme.

I drove my ev to the garage for an MOT today and got the bus home (typically the dad bieke had a puncture). A £2.65 single to travel a mile or so. No wonder people drive everywhere in suburbia.

Maybe some civil liberties problems with that scheme.

The police already have a national database of ANPR hits on all major roads and junctions. Might as well be open about and use it.

That wouldn’t be fair, because little light cars damage roads much less than big heavy cars.

There’s a very simple, totally fair system that would tax more polluting vehicles more for driving more - ditch VED and stick it all on fuel.

Simple, efficient, free to implement and saves costs in the future.

So the drivers of the forthcoming RR Spectre will pay no tax at all on their 3 ton, £350k (before options) land yacht...

Edit to add.. missed the VAT

That wouldn’t be fair, because little light cars damage roads much less than big heavy cars.

Charge a big car more then.

Fuel tax doesn't work for EV owners charging their car from the solar panels on their roof.

I also think we should charge more per mile for driving in congested urban areas in the rush hour compared to sparsely populated rural areas off peak.

The problem there is that the sort of people who have to drive around urban centres are not generally cashmere tracksuited email jockeys..

How are you defining polluting? All those heavy electric SUVs that everyone seems to be buying are pretty bad for particulate matter.

They are round here. Plenty of massive SUVs, relatively few vans. Meanwhile half of London car journeys are under 2 miles and many could easily be made by other means. I expect other cities are similar.

Tax the fuel they use too.

Easy on public charge points, more difficult on home charge points but not impossible.

I also think we should charge more per mile for driving in congested urban areas in the rush hour compared to sparsely populated rural areas off peak.

Yes, defo. Road charging in cities makes good sense.

I always had the feeling this was a peak Tory thread

Tory or champagne socialist?
Needs a venn diagram

Taxing EVs makes total sense but I think there are two things that should be changed:

1. Perhaps it's time for an actual road tax - ie upkeep of infrastructure etc. Maybe tolls like France.
   
2. If EVs are being charged VED in the current system - based on emissions - then big petrol and diesel cars should have an equal or greater increase in their taxation; I'd love that to be earmarked for green initiative like solar etc too
   

Often forget how London centric and blinkered this forum is.

What, London FGSS? Get out of here.

Still - not me.

Please explain why road pricing would be bad for not-London. I'm clearly missing something.

I'm not proposing an increase in tax on motor vehicles in general - just collecting it based on usage. The current system where car ownership is massively front loaded and incremental journeys are cheap disincentives alternatives that are better for the environment (global and local) and us.

Perhaps it's time for an actual road tax - ie upkeep of infrastructure etc. Maybe tolls like France.

Annual tax based on mileage reading at MOT?

Something like that. I would oppose black box tracking as they gov do enough data collecting as it is - don't want to add location of every car on the road.

France is pretty straight forward for motorways; they have a little box that sits in the car that automatically opens a barrier and charges your account.

MOT mileage would also work assuming it was audited occasionally.

I would oppose black box tracking as they gov do enough data collecting as it is

Okay but don't forget the police already have 60 million entries a day in their database so that horse has bolted IMHO.

Of course but why add to that if you don't have to?
I think it would be political suicide to ask everyone to add GPS tracking to their car not to mention the logistics of retrofitting that.

It would be super easy to report and charge mileage based on an existing process like MOTs.

You could also just setup local reporting centres. Just drive in, get someone to read the mileage, sign a digital form and fuck off. 2 mins tops.

Of course but why add to that if you don't have to?

Because I think we should charge different rates depending on the road and time of day. Dual carriageway in the middle of the day should be cheaper than weaving through residential roads in the rush hour. That needs more data.

The idea that people aren't tracked is bonkers anyway. There was a murder trial reported in the press this week of which part of the evidence is the mobile phone location of the victim. Collected some time after the alleged attack so logged in a searchable database available to the authorities. Perhaps only available to the police when investigating a crime but maybe available to other parts of the security services all the time.