New Zealand’s Motor Industry Association (MIA) has welcomed the new government’s reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) of NZ$38 per 1,000km, or half the full RUC rate.
Pending regulations had proposed $53/1,000km, or two-thirds the full
$76/1,000km, but analysis showed that this would result in PHEV owners
paying more in road user charges (including petrol tax) than comparable hybrid vehicles.
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MIA CEO Aimee Wiley said: “Based on average fuel consumption of new petrol hybrid vehicles sold in the last two years, MIA analysis showed that at the initial proposed RUC rate, a PHEV would pay 70% more than an equivalent hybrid petrol vehicle, and a full battery electric vehicle (BEV) would pay 95% more.
“This would unfairly disadvantage owners of PHEVs, whose battery range can vary according to model and age, and potentially discourage the uptake of these low emissions vehicles and undermine progress to reduce transport emissions.
“The MIA recommended instead that the RUC rate for both PHEVs and BEVs be
benchmarked to the average contribution of equivalent petrol engined vehicles and not the full RUC rate. The requested reduction in RUC rates was jointly supported by wider industry as a more equitable interim solution until such time as RUC is universally applied to all light vehicles in the New Zealand fleet.
“”We are disappointed a fairer rate has not been introduced for BEVs also, as the higher rate will likely discourage some buyers.”
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