These are the new taxes you will likely pay on electric vehicles in SA: expert
A recent report by Ashburton investments found that South Africa should prepare for the advent of electric cars, noting the possible effects they are likely to have on the industry and consumers.
“The sooner these vehicles gain traction, the closer the (platinum) sector comes to a potential demand cliff. Also, petrol vehicle production remains an important industry locally and mass adoption could have devastating consequences for the industry,” said Ashburton’s Wayne Mccurrie.
However it is not only South African motorists that need to prepare for their continued adoption, as the phasing out of petrol vehicles will mean that government stands to lose hundreds of millions of rands collected from fuel levies.
This is according to Stephan Krygsman, professor of Logistics and Transport Economics at the University of Stellenbosch, who spoke to BusinessTech following the launch of his new report on the state of South Africa’s road system.
“Our fuel levy which is used to fund transport and roads is increasingly less effective with more fuel efficient vehicles – less fuel less income,” said Krygsman.
“Electrical vehicles will not pay this levy, so in a couple of years we may be stuck with no income source.”
This means that government will likely include a new form of taxation to make up for this lost revenue, he said.
“The alternative is probably some form of road user charging where you are charged for every kilometre of road you use/travel.
“This is what we (a Stellenbosch’s transport economics department) are currently busy with, as we are running an experiment where we track people and sending them a road use invoice every month.”
“The real issue is of course how we fund roads (and transport), how much the user should pay (user charge) and how we manage road funds and if we should have a dedicated road fund or not,” he said.
“When we tried to unpack road funding in South Africa, it proved a very difficult exercise.”
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