No tolls and further reduced rate of motor tax recommended to accelerate uptake of electric cars - Climate Action and Environment Committee report

Getting rid of tolls for e-cars appears to have had a positive effect in other jurisdictions, the Committee says.

The Government should consider further reducing the rate of motor tax which applies to Electric Vehicles with a view to increasing uptake, the report concludes. Measures such as this have seen success in accelerating the uptake of Electric Vehicles in the United Kingdom, and elsewhere.

The government should also consider increasing the current SEAI grant awarded for the purchase of an electric vehicle, the Committee recommends.

It also recommends that an equalisation of excise duty on petrol and diesel should be introduced so as to dis-incentivise the uptake of vehicles with diesel engines and that an investigation into the viability of a ban on Combustion engines should be undertaken. The Government should consider introducing mandatory quotas for zero/low-emission vehicles for car manufacturers from 2019 onwards, according to the report.

The Committee recommends that the assets and infrastructure relating to Electric Vehicles should be maintained as a strategic asset for the time being, rather than being commercialised. Any change to the ownership of assets should be undertaken in the public interest. Emphasis should instead be placed on generating policy in the area with a view to increasing the uptake of Electric Vehicles.

Chair of the Joint Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment Hildegarde Naughton TD said: “Tackling Climate Change is one of the major challenges of our generation, and Ireland must ensure that it plays an adequate role in doing so.  To date, it is widely acknowledged that Ireland’s efforts to tackle Climate Change have been limited, to say the least.
By virtue of the fact that it is one of the worst offenders in terms of carbon emissions, the transport sector is being heavily scrutinised in other jurisdictions in an attempt to tackle carbon emissions.

On this basis, the Joint Committee prioritised Decarbonising Transport in 2017.  This report concentrates on the topic of E-cars and the contribution that such an expansion can make towards decarbonising transport. The Joint Committee will engage further with stakeholders in the areas of public transport, shore based power – air and sea and decarbonising other forms of private and commercial transport.”

Read the report here: https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/committee/dail/32/joint_committee_on_communications_climate_action_and_environment/reports/2018/2018-07-12_report-on-decarbonising-domestic-transport-e-cars_en.pdf