Greens get in ahead of govt with electric vehicles package

The Green Party has stolen a march on the government by announcing a new package of policies to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles, getting in ahead of Transport Minister Simon Bridges who intended to announce a new EV policy before Christmas.

The Greens' policy would remove fringe benefit tax paid on EVs bought for company fleets, and would look to have a fifth of all government cars as EVs within seven years.

Depending on the level of uptake, the policy could be costing a future government between $24 million (5 percent uptake) and $95 million (20 percent uptake) annually by the end of the seven-year exemption period, after which the Greens say they would expect the EV market would be mature enough not to require the FBT leg-up.

The party would also remove FBT on free public transport passes given by companies to their staff, levelling the playing field for public transport commuters compared to people who have access to a free company carpark.

Cars are taxed for FBT purposes at either 20 percent of their cost price or at 36 percent of their book value, meaning a company could cut the upfront cost of an EV, "with further savings over the life of the car," said the party's transport spokesperson, Julie Anne Genter.

"We'll pave the way for a large second-hand market for electric cars, putting clean cars within almost everyone's reach in just a few years."

The Greens would raise the target for the government fleet to more than 20 percent EV if a wider range of models became available. Currently, there are few affordable models of EV on the market. A recent government tender for new VIP transport failed to attract any bids from fully electric vehicles.

Meanwhile, Bridges has been promising a package on EVs for months, but has yet to put a date on the announcement, which is expected to be less generous than the Greens' and to focus more on helping establish national fast-charging infrastructure, which is already being pursued by private sector interests, and public education to get consumers more comfortable with the ability of EVs to meet their motoring needs and to understand their lower lifetime costs.

(BusinessDesk)