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But, why? We WANT people to buy electric cars... It's like the patient isn't breathing, bleeding to death and the nephrologist wants us to test their kidney function.
But, why? We WANT people to buy electric cars... It's like the patient isn't breathing, bleeding to death and the nephrologist wants us to test their kidney function.
1. There are some issues with heavy vehicles. They put more wear on the roads, they pose a greater risk to other drivers because of their higher potential energy in crashes, and they consume more energy (e.g. power plants have to burn more coal).
2. Current EV battery technology uses resources that have significant environmental impact. Smaller battery does less damage.
The goal of this proposed battery weight tax seems to be tweaking the trajectory of EV development towards an even bigger environmental win.
Isn't (battery) weight a proxy for what we really care about, energy consumption per covered distance? Seems like if you'd tax the latter, manufacturers would have more options to innovate around efficiency rather than just battery weight and provide lower-taxed vehicles. Battery weight will of course still be important to get consumption down, but perhaps there are other ways as well to make cars more efficient. One…
>Taxing battery weight is an indirect way to get at the underlying resource consumption in battery manufacturing and production. Tax (curb - battery) weight then? So we can afford the 1000km vehicles we all say we need, while penalizing the heaviest and most inefficient EVs.
Ideally this would encourage lighter vehicles to cut down on the initial “weight” tax as well as increase efficiency of the vehicle overall (more miles per kilowatt hour).
There’s obviously going to be a lot of headaches for farm use vehicles and people generating their own power and paying a tax on it but how else do you pay for roads and incentivize people to stop driving gigantic vehicles?
I looked at the weight of some of these EVs and yikes 2,900 lbs for just the battery pack? 1.5 TONS? WeW.
I'm all for higher taxation on heavy and commercial vehicles to help with road maintenance and up keep. That being said I only drive my truck when needed <1k miles / year. I wouldn't even have the truck but where I live, the lack of access to rentals and friends with trucks. It's a need even though not needed often.
I keep seeing the _right_ claim the _left_ is coming for my truck with increased taxes based on weight. My 2018 GMC 1500 Crew Cab 6.5ft bed Light Truck weighs ~5,300 lbs. I looked at the weight of some of these EVs and yikes 2,900 lbs for just the battery pack? 1.5 TONS? WeW. I'm all for higher taxation on heavy and commercial vehicles to help with road maintenance and up keep. That being said I only drive my truck w…
That's the weight of the Hummer battery pack though. I think around 500kg is the more the norm, with a total curb weight of around 1500kg.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Buying an EV and maintaining your existing driving habits is like drinking only one bottle of Jack a day while dying of liver failure.
Hello r/fuckcars folks, berating people for making reasonable choices within their environment isn't a winning strategy. EVs are a legitimate incremental improvement. Sorry we don't all live a bikable wonderland with good public transit.
Saying that, they do have a somewhat hidden advantage - as it takes more effort and planning to drive any particular distance, EVs will reduce the amount of miles people drive.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Taxing battery weight is an indirect way to get at the underlying resource consumption in battery manufacturing and production. Tax (curb - battery) weight then? So we can afford the 1000km vehicles we all say we need, while penalizing the heaviest and most inefficient EVs.
If the idea is to replace gas taxes as a means of funding roads then the tax should be based on a combination of damage done by the vehicle (which is basically a tax on weight) and some efficiency multiplier. I’ve seen it mentioned in the past that governments can just check your odometer reading on a yearly basis and charge a tax on that but it’s probably just easier to tax the electricity at the point of charge (sp…
If you want to tax that just tax based on the max GVW.
But, why? We WANT people to buy electric cars... It's like the patient isn't breathing, bleeding to death and the nephrologist wants us to test their kidney function.
Governments want their sweet, sweet tax - I hope you didn't imagine the future where one is charging their EV car tax free from offgrid PV installation or some similar nonsense - that's ridiculously non-green solution!
Moreover roads wear out to the fourth power of the vehicle's mass, which means if anything that light vehicles subsidize those heavier ones regardless of emissions.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Governments want their sweet, sweet tax - I hope you didn't imagine the future where one is charging their EV car tax free from offgrid PV installation or some similar nonsense - that's ridiculously non-green solution!
To counteract these needless cynical takes - someone has to maintain roads and roads are funded by taxes on gas and municipalities, which means vehicles that pay no taxes from gas of from the local municipalities are freeloading. Moreover roads wear out to the fourth power of the vehicle's mass, which means if anything that light vehicles subsidize those heavier ones regardless of emissions.
Many/most roads are economically worthwhile (or are a low enough cost to be a justifiable luxury) on their own albeit some (mostly in rural areas) at lower standards of maintenance.