Look no taxes !! Will electric cars really be tax free?

[tron]

I am much too stupid to see how this is all going to be accomplished. Good job I am not a politician.

 

[grober]

This thread started with MikeInWimbledon's question -will electric cars be tax free- I would venture that 60 posts in-- the consensus appears to be NO. That said how that tax is gathered may take on an entirely novel aspect which no one has thought of yet. This may be governed by the developing electric vehicle technology or a parallel technology already hinted at. At one time folks paid for their fuel using cash or by an established monthly account at their local filling station--- now its almost always credit/debit card. I reckon motorists in the 50's might be more amazed by that technology than any improvement in car technology .

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Motorcycles.....?

What will they do about motorcycles? Some are 2300cc(Triumph )

Well, here's BMW's idea: a self-balancing electric.

But TBH, motorcycles aren't the cause of City pollution.

 

[190]

I do hope they take the opportunity to scrap the stupidly complex road fund tax and put it all on fuel/electric charging so that road users are taxed in proportion to the amount of energy used.

 

[Darrell]

 

[grober]

Reckon we are going to see a few of these around.
Exclusive Report: 2017 MINI Countryman - MotoringFile

 

[Dippo]

Reckon we are going to see a few of these around.
Exclusive Report: 2017 MINI Countryman - MotoringFile

I doubt it - where would people sit?

 

[grober]

 

[grober]

Vanda Dendrobium

For anyone interested in electrical vehicles [planes and bikes included ] I can recommend the Fully Charged videos on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/y3HOMHANe44
[YOUTUBE HD]y3HOMHANe44[/YOUTUBE HD]
and
https://youtu.be/37Mzp3jEWWg
[YOUTUBE HD]37Mzp3jEWWg[/YOUTUBE HD]

 

[TheFoX]

How can someone make a policy that comes into effect in 23 years time, unless they can guarantee that they will remain in power that long?

As for stopping production of diesel and petrol cars by 2040, we really don't know what is around the corner. If a motor manufacturer finds a way to produce a non-polluting fossil fueled car, who's to say we won't adopt it as the future.

As for electricity, it is all well and good expecting the masses to adopt a non-pollutung way to power a vehicle, but if the power stations producing this power are polluting the atmosphere then we are back where we started.

Is this another form of misdirection, by moving the polluter from the motorist to somewhere else in industry? After all, how many contaminants are released when batteries are produced and charged/recharged?

What about transport logisitics? It's all well and good having electric buses in city centres, but what about long haul up and down the country? By the time Tescos have delivered to their numerous stores, all those 'sell by' dates would have been met.

Techonology is changing, and changing rapidly. I've worked with PV arrays over the years and even in the last few years the technology has seen the size of the panels reduce while still deliverying the same wattage. It ten years time, panels will be uber efficient, so in twenty years time, we could see solar powered cars becoming dominant, with battery backup for nighttime driving.

What about nuclear fission? Or hydrogen? Or magnetic drive? Repulsor lifters?

Electic cars could be the future if they can extend the range. A typical range of 100 miles may be ok for town work, but what about those wishing to travel up and down the country? Even a range of 200 or 300 miles would not be enough. We would need to aim for a minimum of 500 miles, preferably reaching 700 miles before recharges.

Technology is improving all the time, and it can be quite forseable for electric cars to reach these targets, but it is also forseable that petrol and diesel cars may also end up becoming non polluting. Who knows what is around the corner.

 

[Wheelsnuts]

Thank you Mr FoX: that just about sums it up. The government is making a so-called commitment in the full knowledge that it will not be around to fulfil it. Politics is a short-term game where long-term goals are pretty meaningless. Rapid advances in technology, volatile political situations and finite fossil fuel resources will probably mean that in a quarter of a century the transport system will have undergone dramatic changes anyway: though what those changes will be is beyond me (literally, as I doubt if I will be around by then!).

 

[SW18]

I do hope they take the opportunity to scrap the stupidly complex road fund tax and put it all on fuel/electric charging so that road users are taxed in proportion to the amount of energy used.

This approach makes perfect sense to me, but such an approach would disadvantage the rural workforce who drive further for lower wages than the urban workforce, which I've always supposed is why governments have steered clear of it.

 

[Stratman]

Is that a valid reason not to do it? People who live in city centres generally pay higher council tax than rural folk because of a bureaucrat's guess at what their house is worth. Is that any more or less fair?

 

[markjay]

We can't ask people to take up jobs wherever they can find them, then complain that their commute to work is pulluting the environment.....

But I guess we do it all the time - we berate our leaders for going to war 'for oil', but we expect them to provide us with plenty of cheap energy.... somehow.

 

[Tim203]

Well, Innovate UK are sharing out £30m for their Farraday challenge for new battery technology.
I suppose finding a way to recycle Lithium Iron would be a start and then going through the 'Patents Purchased' files of all the big oil producers the second!

 

[Darrell]

Slightly off topic for a minute,

What's the score with charging a Tesla? My buddy has a Mitsubishi PHEV and he has got some sort of transformer bolted to the wall by his porch. I'm over in Greece in a holiday resort and spotted a Swiss plated Tesla yesterday. It was the SVU looking model with the gull wing doors. I was wondering how the owner goes about charging it when he's away from home.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

There are charging points all over Europe

You can (pay to) recharge all over Europe. You'll have seen them at Motorway service stations, supermarkets and car parks.

The working assumption is that city dwellers and normal travellers would always need to top up away from home.

Here's Tesla's explanation of the Supercharger network. But other chargers are available.

https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/supercharger

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Supermarket chargers

 

[Darrell]

Looking at their website it's showing 3 in Greece and none of them here. Now I'm well confused.

 

[Ted]

Friend has just driven down to Languedoc for free other than tolls in his Tesla thingy with gullwing rear doors usind Supercharger network.
Stopped approx every 200 miles which he says is a natural break for wife and kids.