NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi is reminding owners of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids that they need to start paying road user charges from April 1.
Electric vehicles will pay $76 per 1000km plus an admin fee, and plug-in hybrids will pay a reduced rate of $38 per 1000km plus an admin fee - recognising that they also pay tax in the price of their petrol.
Tara Macmillan, Head of Strategic Regulatory Programmes at NZTA, says the quickest and easiest way to buy RUC is online.
“From 1 April, just go to the NZTA website, click on Online services then Buy a road user charges (RUC) licence and follow the instructions," says Tara.
"You’ll need to give your odometer reading when you buy your first licence, and keep your RUC up to date going forward."
Tara says people with EVs and PHEVs have until May 31to buy their first licence.
“While we encourage people to get onto buying their first licence as soon as possible after 1 April, there is a two-month transition period is to allow time for people to make the change.”
Anyone who hasn’t bought their first licence by 31 May 2024 risks being penalised and receiving an infringement notice.
“It’s an offence for a RUC vehicle to not have a current and valid RUC licence. We hold details of all EVs and PHEVs in our system, so we’ll know who hasn’t bought their first licence and will be following up directly.
"Every time a vehicle goes for a warrant of fitness, we’ll also get the odometer reading which means we can match that to any unpaid RUC – so buy your RUC licence if you want to avoid any large bills,” says Tara.
More about RUC
When you buy RUC, you pre-pay for the distance you’re going to travel, in units of 1000km.
Anyone who uses New Zealand’s roads contributes to the cost of their upkeep in some way. Most pay through levies paid at the petrol pump (known as fuel excise duty) while others such as diesel vehicles pay distance-based road user charges.
Electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids have been exempt from paying road user charges since 2009, but with around 100,000 of these vehicles now on our roads, the decision was made to let the exemption end. The end of the exemption means that EVs owners will contribute to the costs of the transport system in the same way as the owners of other vehicles.
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2 comments
Great
Posted on 31-03-2024 09:32 | By dave4u
About time they charged those power guzzlers to go on the road. Bikes next to get charged i hope to help pay for their million dollar cycleways.
The Master
Posted on 31-03-2024 12:57 | By Ian Stevenson
Yes that is a fair as outcome, EV's should be paying a fair share of the costs of roading that comes from all motorised vehicles on the road, via either petrol tax or RUC's.
Although in my view, an EV (cars. utes, vans etc) causes more damage to roads than a non-EV as they are a heavier hence cause more wear n tear to the roads.
The importing and sale of EV's should in fact be actively discouraged, the environment impact is vastly higher from an EV that a modern fossil fuel vehicle, anyone logically following the real science will get to that conclusion rather quickly.
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