You are reading a single comment by @The_Seldom_Killer and its replies. Click here to read the full conversation.
  • It already exists to a degree in a couple of forms.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_Excise_Duty

    https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/low-emission-zone

    However, before you crack on with encouraging people to use low emission/non fossil fuel vehicles then you really should be making sure that a fully functional infrastructure is in place first. All schemes like this are based on political will and if the alternative is onerous then you'll never pass that bar to implementation.

    Also, and this is important, we have an issue with the existing transport stock. More than 99% of private vehicles on the road are either petrol or diesel powered. For more than 99% of the owners of those vehicles it will be either the first or second largest purchase they will make in their lifetime and will represent a significant (i.e. life changing) financial commitment. The current average length of car ownership in the UK is 4 years. The length is typically longer for those people who's financial status (buying power) is lower.

    So where you're trying to create an incentive for people to consider the purchase of an electric vehicle, part of what you'll do is make it more difficult for the poorer part of the car owning population to do so. That means that the length of their car ownership is likely to be longer.

    And finally, if there is a wholesale shift to low emission/non-fossil fueled private vehicles, there's still the matter of what to do with all the petrol and diesel vehicles that people no longer want to own themselves. Even the wealthier part of the car owning population won't want to just give up something that they will have spent thousands of pounds on at the time of purchase. They will still have a monetary value attachement to that car. Without some form of intervention programme, there will very likely be a pattern of trade to other parts of the UK without a pollution tax or overseas. All you'll have achieved is to move the problem to another place. If you're OK with that, all well an good.

    So these are just some of the issues you should be trying to resolve first before you try and introduce a pollution tax above what we already have. I'm not saying your intentions are wrong, but exchanging one problem for another one isn't necessarily a good one.

About