Opposing the proposal, the EVC wrote in the open letter, “The Andrews Government’s proposed tax on electric vehicles is the only stand-alone electric vehicle tax in the world. No other jurisdiction has introduced such a targeted levy on the cleanest vehicles on the road without significant incentives to balance it out.”
Apart from the aforementioned organizations, the long list of opponents includes EV charger manufacturer Tritium, JetCharge, EV truck converter SEA Electric, the Clean Energy Council, the Australian Conservation Foundation, Solar Citizens, Doctors for the Environment Australia, GetUp, and Environment Victoria.
The controversial EV tax would be assessed at a rate of 2.5 cents per kilometer would be charged each time registration is renewed. EV owners would have to maintain records for at least five years. Those who would fail to produce the records would be slapped with penalties. However, owners of gasoline-powered cars would not be required to produce any such mileage records. Thus, only EV owners would have to face additional burden in terms of time and cost.