Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April.

“It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two per cent of the light vehicle fleet. This has now been met.

“The passing of this bill was necessary to ensure that EVs and PHEVs would be paying their fair share towards road maintenance, just as other road users do.”

From 1 April, owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km, acknowledging that these vehicles use both petrol and electricity. Owners of light EVs will pay the full road user charges rate of $76 per 1000 kilometres.

“The passing of this legislation is the first step towards moving the entire vehicle fleet over to road user charges, which is a commitment under the ACT-National coalition agreement.

“Moving all vehicles into the road user charges system will mean all motorists pay for road maintenance based on the kilometres travelled, rather than the amount of fuel they put in their tanks.”

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