Pay per kilometre toll

A mileage based road toll may apply to trucks in the United Kingdom.

And it could later extend to all other vehicles, The Times reports.

Mileage and emissions-based charges could be introduced for trucks to cut traffic (and provide further funds) under the Department for Transport proposal in something similar to New Zealand’s Road User Charges (RUC) for heavy vehicles and light diesel.

The RUC system also covers electric vehicles in New Zealand. Exemptions apply for mainly those with a gross laden weight of 3.5 tonnes or less until such EVs comprise 2% of the national fleet.

A fuel tax (Road User Charge) applies in Australia to heavy vehicles with a gross vehicle mass of more than 4.5 tonnes used on public roads for business purposes. It’s designed to recover that part of the road construction and maintenance costs attributable to heavy vehicles. A portion of the costs are recovered by states and territories through heavy vehicle registration charges and a portion by the Commonwealth through the fuel based Road User Charge.

The British move comes as the amount of fuel duty Treasury collects — 27.5 billion pounds this year, — is projected to fall because of the growth of electric and hybrid cars.

It would represent a significant overhaul of how vehicles are taxed, The Times

says.