What a road user charge could cost your car

The Australian Electric Vehicle Association (AEVA) wants any road user charge priced on weight and distance rather than powertrain, at a rate of three cents per tonne-kilometre for light vehicles under 4.5 tonnes.

So what does that actually mean at your driveway? We applied the proposed rate to the sorts of cars Australians are buying, using the national average of 13,000km a year and each vehicle’s tare mass.

While the federal government has not revealed how a national road user charge (RUC) would function – namely because it hasn’t been locked in yet, others have.

The maths is fairly simple based on AEVA’s policy statement. Multiply your tare vehicle weight in tonnes by kilometres travelled, then by three cents.

So a 2.2-tonne ute like a Ford Ranger covering 13,000km pays $858 per annum. Almost the same as registration. Halve the weight and you halve the bill.

That means a 1.4-tonne small hatch such as a Toyota Corolla is looking at roughly $546, a mid-size SUV like a Hyundai Tucson around $700, and a three-tonne large electric SUV – perhaps a Kia EV9 – closer to $1170.

An electric motorcycle at 200kg? About $78.

Crucially, this is not added for petrol and diesel drivers in the way many assume. AEVA proposes the charge be phased in over a decade to reach 3c/km by 2035, or restricted to vehicles built after 2021, so motorists who cannot switch to an EV are not slugged from both ends at once.

For context, the average petrol family SUV burning 10 litres per 100km already contributes about 5.3 cents per kilometre in fuel excise, or roughly $689 a year at 13,000km.

A hybrid on 4.0L/100km pays about 2.1c/km, some $273. An EV pays nothing at all.

NSW has already committed to an EV-only, distance-based charge from 2027, which uses none of these variables. AEVA argues a national scheme set by the Commonwealth is the only way to avoid a patchwork of state rules.

This would mean those travelling interstate would run into potential issues but either way, the era of the free ride for electric vehicles is ending.

The argument now is about how the bill gets split.

Join the conversation at our Facebook page
Or email us at editor@carsales.com.au