Proposed fuel taxes will hit Aucklanders hard, except for those driving electric vehicles

Monday, 23 April 2018

Silia Vakameilalo talks about her experience driving an electric vehicle.

Electric vehicle owners are cruising past fuel taxes and embracing road improvements.

Of the 4946 registered electric vehicles (EVs) in the country, 3499 owners are based in Auckland and will receive a free pass when fuel taxes double dip into Auckland motorists' pockets.

The Government has proposed a fuel tax increase of between nine and 12 cents a litre alongside Auckland Council's 11.5 cent regional tax to fund a raft of new land transport plans focusing on road safety, rapid rail and major transport projects.

This means petrol and diesel motorists will effectively pay an extra $10 to $15 at the pump each time they fill up from July.

The Government say Electric vehicles will help prevent global warming.

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Vehicles can sometimes take around 15 to 30 minutes to charge.

If the regional bill is passed this alone could mean motorists could be paying fuel taxes for ten years and it is expected the tax would collect around $170 million per year to go toward fixing Auckland's congested transport infrastructure.

Aucklander Silia Vakameilalo owns one of the country's 650,242 registered petrol vehicles and often drives her work-owned EVs and said she believed everyone should pay taxes.

'We are all users of the road so I don't see why some people should have more of a benefit than others,' she said.

The previous Government's 2016 Electric Vehicles Programme aims to increase the number of electric vehicles in New Zealand to 64,000 by 2021.

A New Zealand Transport Agency spokesperson said the Ministry of Transport's measures to encourage electric vehicle uptake includes, 'exemption from road user charges for a period, allowing electric vehicles into special vehicle lanes on the State Highway network and local roads, and reducing ACC levies for electric and hybrid vehicles'.

ChargeNet say their busy stations are used around 100 times a week.

At the moment EV owners have to pay to charge their vehicles at ChargeNet stations and only have to pay GST and ACC taxes when they get their registration.

ChargeNets' business development manager James Cozens said EVs are the way of the future.

Vector say they will begin to charge customers when the market grows.

'We have six stations in Auckland and 70 around the country.

'Charging at a ChargeNet charger generally costs $0.25 per kWh, plus $0.25 per minute, and the money goes towards the electricity cost and capital cost of the charger.'

Some of ChargeNet's partner stations are in free mode - Vector, with rapid charger technology manufactured and supplied by ABB, is one that has no fees attached.

Vector's Richard Llewellyn said they have grown their network to 20 public rapid charging stations in Auckland.

'To date Vector hasn't charged anyone to use the EV charging infrastructure it has built - although we have been consistent in reserving the right to potentially change this position as the EV market grows and evolves.

'We have also been consistent in our position that the charging infrastructure is there for the benefit of the general public and wider EV community in order to help increase the uptake of EVs.'

Llewellyn said Vector sees the EV uptake as a great opportunity for New Zealand to harness its clean electricity supply in order to decarbonise transport and increase energy security.

The Ministry of Transport said New Zealand is well placed to benefit from EVs and that it will help with climate change issues.

'More than 80 per cent of electricity is generated from renewable sources and there is enough supply for widespread adoption of EVs.

'Even if every light vehicle was electric, there is sufficient generation capacity to charge these provided the majority are charged at off-peak times.'

For more information visit transport.govt.nz

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