In 2018 there were 2176 plug-in electric cars sold in Australia. Just one in every five hundred cars that rolled out of the auto showrooms was electric and next year we can expect that ratio to change dramatically as many new models roll out and the price variation between electric and petrol improves.
The conundrum facing the Federal government is how to recover the tax money that is now so easily collected by simply adding it to the price of petrol and diesel that is the essential fuel for internal combustion engines. The stuff that runs electric cars is the same electricity that runs the television at home, keeps the lights bright at night and cooks people's dinner.
The solution seems to be the " fast charge " that seems to be the answer to extended distance cover that will increase the range of electric vehicles. We are fast reaching the stage where a fifteen minute fast charge will deliver a further four hundred kilometres range before the batteries need another similar top up. That charge involves recharge stations delivering a commercial voltage to achieve that fast charge component and obviously this can cost much more than the electricity delivered to home power supplies.
The problem for the government is that it is possible for electric car owners to deliver an overnight " trickle " to their cars batteries by connecting to the lower voltage mains that serve their homes. The ones with solar on the roof and a battery to hold overnight power can avoid fast charging points until they need to take an out of town journey. That delivers a less reliable tax than applies to the present regime on petrol and diesel.
We are on the cusp of the 5G rollout - and that changes everything. Just like our mobile phones, 5G has the ability to know exactly where our cars are at any given moment - and what they are doing. It opens the door to distance covered charging and varying rates for peak and off peak use. Using an electric car in the future may be similar to the toll situation now. You will need an account with a positive balance and as you drive the distance covered and the time you travel determines the rate at which that balance declines.
The government appears to be dragging its feet on the introduction of electric vehicles. The construction of a fast charge network is going slowly and this tax conundrum will have been high on the planning agenda. It seems likely the government is hoping that electric vehicles and the options that 5G will provide will coincide together to solve that tax dilemma.
The people currently driving electric vehicles are getting the benefit of both worlds. On the one hand they are avoiding the present tax regime of oil based fuels and powering their batteries from the domestic charge for electricity. Whoever thought electric cars would deliver cheap motoring are in for a shock. When it comes to tax needs - nothing changes !
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